TEXAS TRIBUNE
A panel of three federal judges in San Antonio proposed new congressional districts for Texas today. It looks like U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and state Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, won’t be running against each other. The map is a proposal; the court is seeking comments from the parties by noon Friday.
The proposed map splits Hays County between the 25th and 35th districts.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White won in 12 of the new districts while losing the state. Barack Obama won in 13 of them, including in CD-23, where U.S. Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco, R-San Antonio, is the incumbent. No other Republicans are in districts where the Democrats won. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, gets a new district where Obama won in 2008 and where White lost in 2010. No other Democrats got new districts where Republicans won at the top of the ticket.
Texas got four new seats as a result of reapportionment because it grew faster than other states. White and Obama won in three of them; in the new HD-36, Obama lost but White won.
The court’s proposal includes 13 districts where minorities make up more than half of the population, including eight where Hispanics alone are in the majority.
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