Texas Redistricting

[gatomontes99]

 

Above are two maps that underscore the need for redistricting in Texas. The first map is the districts as they were elected in 2024. The second map is the how the counties voted for Trump. 

If you'll do some counting, you will see that 17 Republican dominated counties are represented by 2 democrats. Only one Democrat county is represented by a Republican. 

Under this map, 4 democrat counties will be switched to a Republican representative along with the 17 misrepresented Republican counties. That will mean 5 counties will be misrepresented as opposed to 18 counties before. 

Yes, that's not great for Democrats, but they didn't win the election so they don't have a say. We could divide up the state to completely eliminate Democrat strong holds in Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. Then there would be zero democrats from Texas. That isn't happening. Republicans are helping republicans gain representation for their homes. 

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-ELECTION/RESULTS/zjpqnemxwvx/house/

KVUE

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/live_results/2024/state/tx/president/

[paxamericana]

I'm still trying to understand what the next steps will be. What to do when the legislators doesn't show up?

[Shady]

The Texas redistricting is far less partisan than states like Illinois.  You never hear that in the mainstream media though.

[gatomontes99]

25 minutes ago, paxamericana said:

I'm still trying to understand what the next steps will be. What to do when the legislators doesn't show up?

They will show up. Only 6 more have to be there for the votes to count. Rumor is at least 6 are in the state and will be arrested and brought back. 

They are also going to consider the seats vacated, which will reset the quorum minimum. That will require some legal wrangling before it can happen. 

[herbie]

The President is actively encouraging it, bragging publicly how it will add 5 Republican Senators, yet you want to act like everything is just fine.

 

[gatomontes99]

1 hour ago, herbie said:

The President is actively encouraging it, bragging publicly how it will add 5 Republican Senators, yet you want to act like everything is just fine.

 

1000% it wont add 5 republican Senators.

[Moonlight Graham]

The GOP got 58.4% of the vote for the House in Texas in 2024 but won 65.8% of the House seats.

Trump is trying to steal another election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Texas

Edited August 6, 2025 by Moonlight Graham

[paxamericana]

2 minutes ago, Moonlight Graham said:

Trump is trying to steal another election.

Emperor Trump doesn't need to steal another election, he isn't even on the ballot anymore. 

[Moonlight Graham]

1 minute ago, paxamericana said:

Emperor Trump doesn't need to steal another election, he isn't even on the ballot anymore. 

The US has a midterm election next year for the House of Reps that will control Emperor Trump's ability to get any laws passed in his last 2 years in office.

[Moonlight Graham]

I asked Grok to do a deep search on which party does the most gerrymandering at the federal level:

Quote

"At the federal level, which involves U.S. House of Representatives districts, Republicans appear to have engaged in more gerrymandering [over the last 2 decades], particularly following the 2010 Census through the REDMAP strategy, gaining significant House seats. In the 2020 cycle, while both parties gerrymandered, Republicans maintained control in more states, with estimates suggesting they gained around 16 additional House seats compared to fair maps in 2024, according to the Brennan Center."

 

 

[gatomontes99]

11 hours ago, Moonlight Graham said:

I asked Grok to do a deep search on which party does the most gerrymandering at the federal level:

 

 

 

I don't doubt that both sides do it. But how much is Grok's opinion skewed by a shift in demographics? Trump won the popular vote. That means people changed their voting pattern. Follow that up with the fact that Kamala Harris did not do better in a single county. 

Texas is a perfect example. What was once dubbed the Blue Valley (aka Rio Grande Valley) is now mostly red. But those team red voters are represented by team blue representatives. Redistricting to reflect those voters' pattern changes is good governance really. 

Honestly, the team blue runaways are suppressing team red votes. 

Edited August 6, 2025 by gatomontes99

[Moonlight Graham]

6 hours ago, gatomontes99 said:

I don't doubt that both sides do it. But how much is Grok's opinion skewed by a shift in demographics? Trump won the popular vote. That means people changed their voting pattern. Follow that up with the fact that Kamala Harris did not do better in a single county. 

Texas is a perfect example. What was once dubbed the Blue Valley (aka Rio Grande Valley) is now mostly red. But those team red voters are represented by team blue representatives. Redistricting to reflect those voters' pattern changes is good governance really. 

Honestly, the team blue runaways are suppressing team red votes. 

Voting for the president isn't the same as voting for your congressman in the House of Reps.  It shouldn't be a factor.

And who people happen to vote for should have absolutely nothing to do with the borders of their voting district, because it leads to gerrymandering.

The only thing that matters is if the population of the districts are roughly equal and the borders aren't constructed or redrawn for partisan purposes.

[gatomontes99]

31 minutes ago, Moonlight Graham said:

Voting for the president isn't the same as voting for your congressman in the House of Reps.  It shouldn't be a factor.

And who people happen to vote for should have absolutely nothing to do with the borders of their voting district, because it leads to gerrymandering.

The only thing that matters is if the population of the districts are roughly equal and the borders aren't constructed or redrawn for partisan purposes.

It matters because 96% of voters vote a straight ticket: Pew:Just 4% of registered voters support Trump or Biden and a Senate candidate from the opposing party.

When two counties dominate 17+ counties, those 17+ counties are misrepresented. Redrawing the map to reflect their political will is the defense of democracy. Opposing that is the support of fascism. 

[Moonlight Graham]

28 minutes ago, gatomontes99 said:

It matters because 96% of voters vote a straight ticket: Pew:Just 4% of registered voters support Trump or Biden and a Senate candidate from the opposing party.

When two counties dominate 17+ counties, those 17+ counties are misrepresented. Redrawing the map to reflect their political will is the defense of democracy. Opposing that is the support of fascism. 

Last fall Texans voted 56% for Trump and 49% for GOP federal congressmen in the House of Reps.  7% difference isn't insignificant and can easily sway an election.

I already posted the numbers from last fall's election where the GOP in Texas won more seats than the % of voters that voted GOP in the state (10% gap).   If the numbers went the other way maybe there'd be an argument, but there's literally no problem here whatsoever for the GOP, other than Trump and Texas GOP wanting to rig more seats in their favour so they can control the House overall.  That's what fascism looks like.

[CdnFox]

3 hours ago, gatomontes99 said:

It matters because 96% of voters vote a straight ticket: Pew:Just 4% of registered voters support Trump or Biden and a Senate candidate from the opposing party.

When two counties dominate 17+ counties, those 17+ counties are misrepresented. Redrawing the map to reflect their political will is the defense of democracy. Opposing that is the support of fascism. 

LOL none of that is entirely accurate  

But having said that like it or not it is a tool in the political party's toolbox and the fact the word "gerrymandering" comes to us from OVER  200 years ago is pretty much proof that it's an accepted and legitimate part of the political landscape in America. 

Basically trump doesn't need to defend it. This is well established as acceptable behavior and if the voters feel different then they can express that with their votes and with their representatives. 

I don't like it, i prefer canada's model which is more impartial, but at the end of the day that's a preference. The system is the way it is in the states and it's not really a question of whether or not it's "defending" democracy, it's a question of every body playing by the same rules which is critical for democracy and that's what's happening. 

[Aristides]

What is this gerrymandering thing? Must be American.

[CdnFox]

1 hour ago, Aristides said:

What is this gerrymandering thing? Must be American.

It is. It is the practice of redrawing electoral district boundaries in order to give your party a better chance even if it means drawing the most ridiculous of shapes

It comes from about 1812 where a politician named gerry was In charge of redrawing districts and he drew such a squiggly line to try and get all the Voters for his party into one riding that an opponent commented that the thing looks like a ridiculous salamander. It's a gerrymander!

The name has stuck and since then redrawing boundaries in order to improve your chances at the next election has always been called gerrymandering

In Canada we have an impartial third party coalition group that does it all to help keep partisanship to a minimum. But in the states it is quite common to look at the votes and redraw the boundaries so that little pockets of your opponent are trapped in with larger pockets of your supporters to give yourself more seats

Edited August 7, 2025 by CdnFox

[Aristides]

Some of their boundaries look like they were drawn by someone with advanced Parkinson's.

[CdnFox]

7 minutes ago, Aristides said:

Some of their boundaries look like they were drawn by someone with advanced Parkinson's.

Yep   

but it can be a powerful tool. by redrawing the lines you can 'trap' smaller pockets of your opponent's voters so that you win those counties even if the overall split in the area is more 50 50. 

Trump thinks redrawing the map here is going to give him five extra seats. Of course there's no guarantee but it would not surprise me for him to drive a benefit

[Legato]

We should gerrymander Toronto and Montreal over to Wakanda.

[CdnFox]

2 hours ago, Legato said:

We should gerrymander Toronto and Montreal over to Wakanda.

You should mention that to the Rhino party

[Fluffypants]

On 8/5/2025 at 4:42 PM, paxamericana said:

I'm still trying to understand what the next steps will be. What to do when the legislators doesn't show up?

They will get warrants for their arrests and a 500 dollar fine every day they dont show up. If people raise money for them it could be considered aiding and abetting and if the politicians take it, it could be considered taking bribes. Lets not get it twisted they ARE breaking Texas Law by doing this

The Dems do this in Texas when they dont like something, so they pout like babies and run to other states as a political stunt because the Texas Rangers (not the baseball team and is a real state police division) will be sent after them and haul their asses back I think the penalties should be higher no matter which party does it because its a waste of taxpayer time and money for something that will happen whether they like it or not.

Edited August 9, 2025 by Fluffypants

[Shady]

On 8/5/2025 at 10:51 PM, Moonlight Graham said:

The GOP got 58.4% of the vote for the House in Texas in 2024 but won 65.8% of the House seats.

Trump is trying to steal another election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Texas

Nonsense.  He's just following the lead of blue states, particularly in the north east, that have gerrymandered Republicans out of existence.  Take Massachusetts, where Harris won 61% of the vote, but won 100% of the house seats. 

[Shady]

On 8/6/2025 at 6:14 PM, Moonlight Graham said:

Last fall Texans voted 56% for Trump and 49% for GOP federal congressmen in the House of Reps.  7% difference isn't insignificant and can easily sway an election.

I already posted the numbers from last fall's election where the GOP in Texas won more seats than the % of voters that voted GOP in the state (10% gap).   If the numbers went the other way maybe there'd be an argument, but there's literally no problem here whatsoever for the GOP, other than Trump and Texas GOP wanting to rig more seats in their favour so they can control the House overall.  That's what fascism looks like.

You're ignoring blue states that have gerrymandered even worse.  I agree that there should be a standard way of redistricting that takes politics out of it.  But currently that's not the case, and blue states have gerrymandered their states even worse, as well as had illegal immigrants counted as part of their population that's resulted in them having more elector votes, and more house seats than they otherwise should.

[CdnFox]

4 hours ago, Shady said:

Nonsense.  He's just following the lead of blue states, particularly in the north east, that have gerrymandered Republicans out of existence.  Take Massachusetts, where Harris won 61% of the vote, but won 100% of the house seats. 

This is true. For politics to be fair what's good for the goose has to be good for the gander. The democrats have pulled this kind of stuff many many times and republicans have too, it's way too late to complain that it's not fair.  It's part of the system and has been since the beginning.   The person who Gerrymandering was named after worked for J Hancock, one of the first presidents. This goes back to day one and is a valid gambit in the political rulebook in the US.