The map was initially approved by Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives members on Wednesday night, but Democratic lawmakers made it known during the session that it was not made available for public hearings.
On Wednesday, Texas Democrats raised a number of questions and objections to the measure.
Before the bill’s passage, Democrat representative John Bucy claimed from the floor that the new maps were blatantly intended to stifle the votes of Black, Latino, and Asian voters and that his Republican colleagues’ bending to Trump’s will was deeply worrying.
Bucy remarked, “This is authoritarianism in real time, not democracy.” Donald Trump’s map is on this one. Because Trump is aware that the electorate is rejecting his agenda, it is clearly and purposefully creating five more Republican seats in Congress.
Republicans claimed that the map was intended to increase the number of predominantly Hispanic districts.
President Trump urged the Texas House of Representatives to approve the extraordinary mid-decade revision of congressional maps, which would give his party a better chance of holding onto the US House of Representatives in the upcoming election. Before they can become official, the state Senate must approve the maps and sign them with Governor Greg Abbott’s signature.
Texas’ state legislative Democrats evaded the state by escaping the state earlier this month in protest, and they were given round-the-clock police monitoring upon their return to ensure they were present on Wednesday’s session. They delayed the vote by two weeks.
Democrats voluntarily returned on Monday, saying they had succeeded in preventing a vote during the first special legislative session and persuading Democrats in other states to take retaliatory measures.
The Democratic-controlled state Legislature of California is likely to approve its own new House map, which aims to create five Democratic-leaning districts, after the Texas maps are approved. California’s map would need voter approval in November before it becomes official, in contrast to Texas.
Three measures are expected to be approved by the California Legislature on Thursday morning: creating new congressional districts, authorizing the replacement map, and holding a special election in November to get the support of the electorate.
Democrats have also vowed to file legal action to challenge the new Texas map, and they have alleged that Republicans used their political leverage to pass legislation to stop deadly floods that swept the state last month.
Other Republican states, as well as Democratic ones like Maryland and Illinois, are pursuing or considering their own redistricting initiatives.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply