德克萨斯州奥斯汀——周六晚上，德克萨斯州共和党人逼近重新绘制的美国众议院地图，随着选民在该州繁荣的郊区脱离共和党，这些地图将支撑他们日益削弱的主导地位。
在得克萨斯州众议院的一次关键的深夜投票中，共和党人提前签署了新的国会边界，这将使他们在2018年和2020年的几次近距离通话后有更多的喘息空间，同时也为共和党在与美国接壤的边界开辟了一条新的道路墨西哥。
但在未来法律挑战的预演中，民主党人花了几个小时抨击这些地图是歧视性的，对该州激增的拉丁裔居民几乎视而不见，这些人占过去十年近400万新德州人的一半以上。许多人住在达拉斯和休斯顿附近，在共和党设计的地图下，不会有新的地区让拉丁裔人占多数。
共和党州众议员托德·亨特(Todd Hunter)主持了众议院重新绘制的地图，他为这些变化辩护，并表示这些变化符合法律。
这些地图仍需要在未来几天由参众两院进行最终谈判，然后才能送交共和党州长格雷格·艾伯特(Greg Abbott)，预计他将签署这些地图。
重新划分的国会选区将使许多现任议员更容易保住席位，但批评人士表示，这些选区也威胁到黑人和西班牙裔社区的政治影响力，尽管这些选民推动了德克萨斯州的发展。新的选区划分是十年一次的选区划分过程的产物，它创建了两个新的选区，并降低了几个选区对共和党议员的竞争力。
德克萨斯州是继2020年人口普查后唯一获得两个国会席位的州，人口普查显示，德克萨斯州10名新居民中，有色人种占9%以上。
“种族显然是这里的因素，”民主党州众议员拉斐尔·安奇亚在谈到地图是如何绘制的时说。“不是党派之争，而是种族问题。”
德克萨斯州众议院在周六长达数小时的辩论中做出的一项修改将增加两个地区的西班牙裔选民人数，但这些修改仍必须通过另一轮批准。
民主党人和投票权倡导者正准备在法庭上挑战这些地图，这将是另一场备受瞩目、高风险的德州政治法律战——德州已经是堕胎和投票权纠纷的中心。
控制议会两院的共和党人几乎完全控制了地图制作过程。他们使用的地图已经被专家和法院宣布为对他们有利的不公正的选区划分，自从选举权法案1965年生效以来，在每一次重新划分选区的过程之后，该州都不得不在法庭上为他们的地图辩护。
但法律挑战在这一轮面临新的障碍——这是自美国最高法院2013年裁定德克萨斯州和其他有种族歧视历史的州在地图获得批准之前不再需要司法部审查以来的第一次。原告现在必须等待提出索赔，并必须表明地图是有意的种族歧视。绘制地图来制造政治优势并不违宪。
绘制地图并领导参议院选区重新划分委员会的共和党参议员琼·霍夫曼告诉立法者，他们“对种族视而不见”她说，她的法律团队确保该提案遵循选举权法案的意见。
美联社(The Associated Press)对得克萨斯州立法委员会(Texas legal Council)收集的去年选举数据进行的分析显示，该提议将使该州38个国会选区中的24个成为安全的共和党选区，并有机会在与墨西哥接壤的边境地区至少再获得一个新重划的民主党据点。目前，共和党占据该州36个席位中的23个。
具有新强化优势的共和党人包括众议员范·泰勒，他在达拉斯远郊的选区去年仅支持唐纳德·特朗普总统一个百分点。根据新地图，特朗普将以两位数的优势赢得该地区。
民主党人在过去两个周期积极攻击的众议员迈克尔·麦考尔(Michael McCaul)现在将代表一个坚定支持特朗普的地区，其界线不包括休斯顿郊区和奥斯汀的自由派部分。
乔·拜登总统以略高于2个百分点的优势赢得的一个从格兰德河流域到圣安东尼奥的狭长垂直选区现在将略微倾向于特朗普选民。
美国民主党众议员希拉·李庚翔(Sheila)在深夜赢得了胜利，这是她第14个任期，她的家被拉回休斯顿区，该区几乎完全恢复到了以前的样子。美国众议员阿尔·格林的邻近地区也是如此，此前两人都曾看到长期居住在少数族裔社区的选民撤出他们的选区。
得克萨斯州的立法者也在为他们自己的选区重新绘制地图，共和党人遵循类似的计划，将保持他们的政党在州众议院和参议院的权力。这些提案也有望在下周之前送交雅培。
Texas GOP advances new maps that would tighten slipping grip
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Republicans on Saturday night closed in on redrawn U.S. House maps that would shore up their eroding dominance as voters peel away from the GOP in the state’s booming suburbs.
In a key late-night vote in the Texas House, Republicans gave early sign-off to new congressional boundaries that would give them more breathing room after some close calls in 2018 and 2020, while also opening a new path for the GOP along the border withMexico.
But in a preview of legal challenges to come, Democrats spent hours blasting the maps as discriminatory and all but blind to the state’s surging number of Latino residents, who made up more than half of the nearly 4 million new Texans over the past decade. Many live around Dallas and Houston, where under the GOP-engineered maps, there would be no new districts that give Latinos a majority.
Republican state Rep. Todd Hunter, who has presided over the redrawn maps in the House, defended the changes and said they comply with the law.
The maps will still need final negotiations in the coming days between the House and Senate before being sent to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign them.
The redrawn congressional districts would make make it easier for many incumbents to hold their seats, but critics say they also threaten Black and Hispanic communities’ political influence, even as those voters drive Texas’ growth. The new lines, the product of a once-in-a-decade redistricting process, create two new districts and make several less competitive for Republican lawmakers.
Texas was the only state to gain two congressional seats following the 2020 census, which showed that people of color accounted for more than 9 of 10 new residents in Texas.
“Race is clearly the factor here,” Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia said of how the maps were drawn. “Not partisanship, but rather race.”
One revision by the Texas House during hours of debate Saturday would increase the number of Hispanic voters in two districts, but those changes must still make it through another round of approval.
Democrats and voting rights advocates are preparing to challenge the maps in court in what would be yet another high-profile, high-stakes legal battle over Texas politics — already the epicenter of disputes over abortion and voting rights.
Republicans who control both chambers of the Legislature have nearly complete control of the mapmaking process. They are working from maps that experts and courts have already declared as gerrymandered in their favor, and the state has had to defend their maps in court after every redistricting process since the Voting Rights Act took effect in 1965.
But legal challenges face new hurdles this round — the first since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that Texas and other states with a history of racial discrimination no longer need to have the Justice Department scrutinize the maps before they are approved. Plaintiffs must now wait to file claims and must show that maps were intentionally meant to discriminate by race. Drawing maps to engineer a political advantage is not unconstitutional.
Republican state Sen. Joan Huffman, who authored the maps and leads the Senate Redistricting Committee, has told lawmakers they were “drawn blind to race.” She said her legal team ensured the proposal followed the Voting Rights Act.
The proposal would make 24 of the state’s 38 congressional districts safe Republican districts, with an opportunity to pick up at least one additional newly redrawn Democratic stronghold on the border with Mexico, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of data from last year's election collected by the Texas Legislative Council. Currently, Republicans hold 23 of the state's 36 seats.
Republicans with newly fortified advantages include Rep. Van Taylor, whose district in Dallas' exurbs went for President Donald Trump by a single percentage point last year. Under the new maps, Trump would have won the district by double-digits.
Rep. Michael McCaul, who Democrats aggressively targeted the last two cycles, would now represent a solidly pro-Trump district under lines that exclude Houston's suburbs and liberal parts of Austin.
And a long, vertically drawn district stretching from the Rio Grande Valley to San Antonio that President Joe Biden won by just over 2 percentage points would now slightly tilt toward Trump voters.
In a late-night win for Democrats, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat who is serving her 14th term, had her home drawn back into her Houston district, which was restored nearly entirely to its former shape. So, too, was the nearby district of U.S. Rep. Al Green after both had seen longtime constituents of minority communities drawn out of their districts.
Texas lawmakers are also redrawing the maps for their own districts, with Republicans following a similar plan that would keep their party in power in the state House and Senate. Those proposals are also expected to be sent to Abbott by next week.
