(Austin, TEXAS) – Yesterday, the Texas House Redistricting Committee held a hearing on Republicans’ state House map, which was filed just five days ago. The map passed out this afternoon on a party line vote of 8 to 6.
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner (D-Grand Prairie) issued the following statement in response:
“Redistricting is a complex process that requires careful attention to detail and a comprehensive understanding of the law, yet in just a matter of days we received the initial map, heard 11 hours of public testimony, hastily adopted amendments in the dead of night and voted the bill out of committee — despite repeated objections by the Democratic committee members to the rushed process.
“Throughout the hearing, we heard no invited expert testimony — which Democrats have requested multiple times — no resource witnesses from the Attorney General’s Office, Legislative Council or the Secretary of State, and were given just 40 minutes to ask Chair Hunter questions about the proposed map.
“Given Texas’ well documented history of drawing intentionally discriminatory redistricting plans, it is more important than ever for leadership to treat this process with consideration and respect. Instead, Texas Republicans are doubling down and seem hell-bent on repeating the mistakes of the past.
“We will continue to fight back against maps that disenfranchise voters, undermine communities of interest and deny Texans fair representation, and work for districts that fairly represent that 95% of the state’s population growth was driven by minority communities.”
