By Rita Cook
Correspondent
Texas Metro News
ELLIS COUNTY – It was certainly an unusual legislative session this year.
Now as the special session season has begun, it is getting even edgier.
Redistricting and gerrymandering are the current battle cries and depending on the side of the aisle you sit on the stakes are high.
To get a clearer perspective I ask Ellis County GOP Chair Randy Bellamy about the redistricting issue.
Bellamy explained in Ellis County the census said there were about 192,000 people, when in truth it was a much higher number.
Texas 2036 said in 2020, the census reported Texas’ population was at 29,145,505, which was a 16 percent jump up from 25,145,561 in 2010. However, a new census report apparently indicated Texas’ population “may have been undercounted anywhere from 166,129 to 953,059 people.”
Certainly, Texas needs to do something about the additional political seats it deserves and the loss of federal funding.
However, what the democrats really seem to be outraged about is how the redistricting lines are being redrawn due to the census undercount.
Fast forward to the special session that began in Austin on July 21.
It has been unruly.
This past Sunday the Texas House Democratic Caucus issued the statement “Come and take it,” after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened lawmakers with arrest and expulsion from the House of Representatives for denying him a quorum to pass the redistricting map that was presented late last week.
The Ellis County GOP posted on their FB Sunday “The Democrats seem to be exercising the “Fool” around portion of the FAFO and Governor Abbott is delivering the Find Out part.”
Texas House Democrats who traveled to Illinois and California last week are out of state this week, which will deny quorum.
To that, Abbott replied “The truancy ends now. The derelict Democratic house members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the house reconvenes at 3 p.m. August 4.”
He added that for any member not in attendance he planned to invoke Texas Attorney General opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said “This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity. Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a historic tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump. He is using an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal.”
The Democrats also insisted an independent poll by RABA Research firm “found that only 15% of Texans believe redistricting should be a priority right now, and nearly 70% say it’s unfair for politicians to redraw district lines to choose their voters.”
However, Texans, and Americans in general are tired of inaccurate polling numbers on both sides of the aisle to keep the game going.
And, tired of politicians spending their tax dollars by calling special sessions that cost up to $2 million.
While the Democrats are saying the redistricting and gerrymandering of district lines is a Trump initiative, the fact remains Texas was undercounted in the last census.
So now instead of both sides working together for a solution, Texans are witnessing men and women acting like they are in a sand box fighting over toys while Texans are flipping the bill for the baby bottles.
The faulty census numbers are worth a special session consideration but so is a compromised fair system of determining new district lines without it being at the cost of “We the People” or in this case “We the Texans.”
Besides, Texas has always been red if you get out of the big cities.
Last week’s redrawn map will give the GOP five new seats in next year’s midterms.
The Texas Tribune reported last Saturday “The Department of Justice said four districts unconstitutionally combined Black and Hispanic voters, a charge the state disputes. If the proposed map passes, two will still be multiracial.”
So now what?
Gov. Abbott’s press release over the weekend began with “Real Texans don’t run from a fight.”
To that, how about real Texans not running from the dire need to replace all the politicians who are more concerned about getting their way than compromising red and blue.
