After Home Democrats absconded for greater than two weeks in opposition to a Congressional redistricting invoice, the Texas Home on Wednesday handed the invoice by a vote of 88-52.
It was handed after roughly eight hours of debate throughout which the vast majority of Democrats referred to as Republicans racist.
State Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, filed HB 4, the redistricting invoice, which was added to the decision for the primary and second legislative particular periods. He additionally authored the redistricting invoice the legislature handed in 2021 that continues to be in litigation.
“I’ve heard numerous feedback, and I’ll let you know I don’t take them personally,” Hunter mentioned. “These are powerful points. I really feel like typically that I’m a pinata with no sweet, simply being hit. However I respect all of you.” Talking to Democrats who fled the state, he mentioned, “you left for 17 to 19 days and a lot of the feedback I’ve heard may have been dealt with, mentioned or mutually resolved on this Home inside that point. You selected to depart … that’s your alternative. We selected to remain. That was our alternative.”
State Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Price, like her colleagues, mentioned the redistricting plan was racist. Collier on Monday refused to adjust to Home guidelines she voted for, not leaving the chamber, The Heart Sq. reported. On Wednesday, she requested Hunter if he was conscious that in the course of the time of slavery, Blacks fled, or that in Nazi rule, Jews fled. “They fled their oppressor,” she mentioned, accusing Home Republicans of being oppressors, saying they “don’t mirror the range of Texas.”
She additionally complained that Home Democrats weren’t concerned within the redistricting course of, to which Hunter replied they had been gone for 17 days and selected to not be part of the method.
“When you find yourself oppressed, you flee the oppressors,” she mentioned.
In response, state Rep. Katrina Pierson, R-Rockwall, mentioned, “Chairman Hunter could not have taken the non-public assaults and disrespect personally, however I did. The opposition will get to face right here and grandstand and say just about something that they need, and we’re anticipated to face right here and simply take it.
“You name my voters racist. You name my occasion racist, however but we’re anticipated to comply with the foundations. Properly, that double customary ends right now.”
“Extra minority voters are voting their values, not their pores and skin colour,” she continued. “Lots of them are transferring to Texas to flee blue states as a result of their values have been efficiently gerrymandered into suppression. I’ve heard the accusations that this mid-decade redistricting goes to silence voters, and that it misrepresents the inhabitants of Texas. The information don’t match the rhetoric.”
She mentioned that below present congressional maps, Texas has zero Black CVAP (citizen voting age inhabitants) districts. Beneath the brand new map, there are two. She additionally replied to Collier’s declare, saying that Blacks fled throughout slavery to Republican states.
“I’ve heard repeatedly that these maps are gerrymandered, however that doesn’t match the narrative both. That’s simply spin as a result of in lots of components of the state, the map eliminates gerrymandering; they emphasize compactness in entire counties and entire cities. Political efficiency isn’t simply authorized, it’s honest. It displays the voters of the state of Texas,” she mentioned.
She additionally identified that President Donald Trump received Hispanic voters in Texas within the final election. “President Trump flipped 11 out of 18 counties on the Texas-Mexico border. He doubled his help from 2020. Political efficiency is the driving force” behind the redistricting. “You misplaced,” she instructed Democrats. “Recover from it.”
After the vote, Home Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, thanked members who carried the invoice, additionally saying the brand new map is constitutional and authorized.
“These previous few weeks haven’t been straightforward, however the Home members who confirmed up for work day-after-day have proven a dedication to their constituents that won’t be forgotten,” he mentioned.
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.
