Texas legislature update:

Here is the situation:

• Governor Rick Perry called for a 30 day session set to begin June 30th, and the focus will be 'Congressional Redistricting'.
  
  
• State Democrats kept it from happening in the regular session by running off to Oklahoma so a vote couldn't be taken.
  
  
• The Texas House Democrats may not be able (or willing) to do it again. The first time, it only involved a few days, but Perry can call sessions again and again.
  
  
• News reports are that "[Democrats are] likely to look to the state Senate. Two-thirds of the Senators would have to vote in favor of taking up redistricting. And the Senate is two Republicans short of having that majority."
  
  
• However, it's entirely possible that a couple of Senate Democrats could be peeled off by giving them ultra-safe Congressional districts to run in.

We suspect that the legislation will go through, but then be challenged in court.

ADDENDUM: We read "Republicans say the current districts don't accurately reflect the Republican-leaning voting habits of Texans." (It's something we also heard Brit Hume say recently.) Currently the Texas representation in Congress is 17 Democrats - 15 Republicans. But what about Florida? There, the representation is:

R - Miller, Jeff; Florida, 1st
D - Boyd, Allen; Florida, 2nd
D - Brown, Corrine; Florida, 3rd
R - Crenshaw, Ander; Florida, 4th
R - Brown-Waite, Ginny; Florida, 5th
R - Stearns, Cliff; Florida, 6th
R - Mica, John; Florida, 7th
R - Keller, Ric; Florida, 8th
R - Bilirakis, Michael; Florida, 9th
R - Young, C.W.; Florida, 10th
D - Davis, Jim; Florida, 11th
R - Putnam, Adam; Florida, 12th
R - Harris, Katherine; Florida, 13th
R - Goss, Porter; Florida, 14th
R - Weldon, Dave; Florida, 15th
R - Foley, Mark; Florida, 16th
D - Meek, Kendrick; Florida, 17th
R - Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana; Florida, 18th
D - Wexler, Robert; Florida, 19th
D - Deutsch, Peter; Florida, 20th
R - Diaz-Balart, Lincoln; Florida, 21st
R - Shaw, E.; Florida, 22nd
D - Hastings, Alcee; Florida, 23rd
R - Feeney, Tom; Florida, 24th
R - Diaz-Balart, Mario; Florida, 25th

18 Republican, 7 Democratic Representatives in a state that has two Democratic Senators, and was evenly divided in the 2000 Presidential race.

Sounds like the Democrats "deserve" to pick up five seats - about the same amount they would lose in Texas under the Perry/DeLay scheme.

posted by Quiddity at 6/22/2003 08:05:00 AM