Alternative Districts: Texas State Senate
Below you'll find my alternative to the Texas State Senate district map contrasted with the actual map. My version displays a better way of keeping together communities of interest, while respecting political and geographical boundaries. My version also creates new minority opportunity districts and more compact districts overall. Using Dave’s Redistricting App, some of the actual districts couldn’t be drawn to match exactly, however, these discrepancies have no significant effect on their respective district demographics. The district numbering keeps to the previous numbering as closely as possible.
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Dallas Metro Area 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 23, 30
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This region arguably goes under the most drastic change. My version creates two new minority opportunity districts, the 10th and 16th, which would gives Democrats two extra seats that they would easily hold. Additionally, the 9th district would become competitive by 2016.
My 23rd is a plurality Black district, maintaining its 39% plurality Black VAP, which means it loses a large amount its Hispanic population to the 16th. The 16th goes from having a 53% White VAP to a 48% Hispanic VAP. This moves the district from a 5% Clinton win to a 36% win. Similarly, the 10th, which somewhat looks like an inverse reflection of the 16th, moves from a .6% Trump win, to a 29% Clinton win. This district becomes less White, with its VAP at 53% White being reduced to a plurality of 36%, since its Black VAP increases from 17% to 24%, and its Hispanic VAP from 25% to 32%. Democrats were able to flip the 10th and 16th in 2018, with White candidates, and they were not resounding victories.
The 9th district actually becomes Whiter, but more competitive, going from an 11% Trump win to a 4% Trump win. The 8th, 12th, and 30th districts remain solidly Republican, but are also more appropriate. My 8th stays south of U.S. 280 and west of Lavon Lake in Collin County, leaving the rest of the county to the 30th, which takes all of Denton and Wise counties. This pushes the 12th into Tarrant County, which does contort around the 10th to allow for a non-White district. The 22nd also no longer has an appendage the sticks into Tarrant County, and the 2nd district is moved completely out of the picture, which also goes a long way to improving the districts, since the 2nd takes in much of its population from Dallas County.
As you can see, the actual map has districts that crack heavily Democratic and non-White areas to prevent non-White Democrats from gaining representation in the chamber. My version corrects this obviously racist gerrymander with appropriate districts.
Houston Metro Area 2, 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 15
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As you can see, the Houston area is a mess on the actual map. My version obviously cleans this area up, more closely resembling the Congressional district map. The most significant change comes with the 2nd district, which is actually in the northeastern part of the state and includes part of the Dallas metro area. The 2nd takes Montgomery and Waller counties along with a large section of northwestern Harris County. My 4th district is contained within Harris County, whereas the actual 4th combines Chambers and Jefferson counties, as well as part of Galveston County, with most of Montgomery County via Harris County. Skipping over to the 7th, my version moves the district south, which makes it competitive by 2016, though it would have been solidly Republican up until then. The 11th is almost completely reimagined, retaining a small part of Harris County, the district includes all of Chambers, Galveston, Hardin, Jefferson, Liberty, and Orange counties.
Districts 6, 13, and 15 are the minority opportunity districts in this region. The 15th is mostly Hispanic, while the 6th and 13th are each about a third Black and a third Hispanic. The 6th is plurality Black; the 13th plurality Hispanic. While districts like these tend to be a bit contorted to allow for minority representation, it’s clear that they can still be drawn better.
San Antonio to Austin 14, 25, 26
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As you might expect, Travis County is cracked, however, it’s only split among four districts, as opposed to five on Congressional district map. My 14th district is kept within Travis County, which reduces its White Voting Age Population to a 49% plurality. My 25th district picks up the rest of Travis County, takes all of Hays County, and holds onto Comal County. The 25th is mostly the same in San Antonio, but it loses Kendall County and its part of Guadalupe County. While this moves my 25th to the left significantly, it still voted for Trump over Clinton by 10%. Compare that to the actual 25th which voted for Trump by 18%. The 26th district is a mostly Hispanic district based in San Antonio in both versions, of course. My 26th reduces the Hispanic population from 65% to 59%, but this is still high enough for the district to elect a Hispanic Senator. My 26th is made neater by following the highways in the county.
South-Rio Grande 19, 20, 21, 27, 29
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This region has a very large Hispanic population, which makes drawing mostly Hispanic districts easier. However, to ensure that these districts are all drawn to elect Hispanic Senators, some districts must go out of their way to include Whiter areas, which prevents packing. My 29th district gives Jeff Davis and Presidio counties to the 19th district. The 19th also loses Crockett, Edwards, and Real counties, as well as part of Atascosa County, while it changes a bit in Bexar County. This brings the district’s Hispanic VAP from 63% to 66%, which moves the district to the left. Clinton’s percentage increases from 53% to 56%.
Districts 20, 21, and 27 all move to the right, but not by too much. Their respective Hispanic VAPs are 73%, 76%, and 71%. The closest in 2016 was the 20th which voted for clinton by 11.5%. The actual 20th district on its own is not very problematic, however, this configuration does pack Hispanics into the 27th, which is 89% Hispanic with an 86% Hispanic VAP. My 27th loses parts Hidalgo County, and makes up for it by taking all of Nueces County and a small part of San Patricio County. This divides Hidalgo County between the 20th and 21st districts, which allows the 20th to take in Whiter areas to the North. This district also absorbs some counties from the 21st: Bee, Duval, Karnes, Live Oak, and most of San Patricio. It also picks up the counties of: Aransas, Caldwell, DeWitt, Goliad, Gonzales, and Refugio. The district’s Hispanic VAP hardly decreases.
Finally, the 21st district sees an increase to its Hispanic population. The actual district is geographically larger than mine stretching from Starr County into Travis County. This district appears to link the valley’s Hispanic population with Austin’s considerable Hispanic population, which is technically not how a district like this should be drawn. My version clearly shows how this can be improved. My 21st splits only one county, as opposed to the actual district, which splits five counties. The district only goes as far north as Guadalupe County. It’s also more Hispanic going from 68% to 76% VAP. All three of these districts in my version more closely resemble the Congressional district map.
North-Central 24, 28, 31
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The districts in this region undergo drastic change. The districts are clearly more compact in my version, but my version better respects communities of interest. My 24th includes parts of suburban and exurban San Antonio, and extends to the North and West, taking in Odessa, Midland, and San Angelo. Compare this to the actual 24th which stretches from the San Antonio suburbs to the Killeen-Fort Hood area, to Taylor County, where it splits the city of Abilene with the 28th. It also has an appendage in Travis County. While my 24th is geographically larger, it makes more sense to maintain a district that keeps to the Plains and Hill Country.
My 28th district keeps to the Plains and North Texas. I-20 runs through this district from Big Spring to Abilene to Weatherford. The district also includes Wichita Falls and Gainesville, which are connected via U.S. 287. The actual 28th includes territory from Childress County to Kimble County in a way that makes it look like it oddly connects to separate parts of the state, which is essentially what it does.
The aforementioned changes allow for the 31st to be, mostly, kept in the Panhandle, taking in two major metro areas - Amarillo and Lubbock. This contrasts sharply with the actual 31st, which includes Amarillo and much of the Panhandle, but reaches for Odessa and Midland via counties on the state’s border with New Mexico. The districts in this region remain heavily Republican and are mostly White, though two maintain large Hispanic populations.
East-Central 1, 3, 5, 17, 18, 22
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Some of the districts in this region are completely re-imagined, like the 5th and 17th, while others are improved to better respect communities of interest. Most of the northeastern counties are combined into a single district, the 1st district, instead of split between two districts. The 3rd is now mostly contained between the Neches and Sabine rivers, and includes the Tyler, Longview and Marshall areas. The actual 3rd doesn’t excludes these areas in exchange for the counties between the Trinity and Naches rivers, and beyond into Montgomery County.
Williamson County makes up most of the 5th district in both versions, but my 5th is more practical. While counties are kept whole in both, my 5th district incorporates only 3 counties: Bell, Coryell, and Williamson. This makes the district more compact, which is a result of making a district that keeps close communities together. The actual 5th includes the College Station metro area, and stretches as far east as Walker County and as far north as Freestone and Limestone counties.
Like the 2nd district, which isn’t labeled here, the 17th changes so much in my version that it’s only labeled one one map in this section. My 17th district actually is comprised of Calhoun, Jackson, Matagorda, Victoria, and Wharton counties, along with most of Brazoria and Fort Bend counties, as well as a small section of Harris County. This pushes my 18th district to the north taking in all of the counties that my 5th district loses, and east to taking in most of the counties between the Naches and Trinity rivers.
Finally, the 22nd district is actually mostly the same. While it looks like an appropriate district on the actual map, which it mostly is, it loses the parts of Arlington and Grand Prairie in Tarrrant County in my version. My 22nd also loses Fall and Limestone counties, while picking up Anderson and Erath counties.
Texas Republicans drew the current gerrymandered Texas Senate districts. This has not only ensured that they would win more districts than they probably should based on partisanship, but also that representation in the senate would not be as diverse as it should be. This is most obvious in Dallas and Tarrant counties, where there should be two minority opportunity districts, as is shown in my version. Even quickly comparing both maps, you can see my districts are more appropriately regionally based, which further improves cohesion of communities of interest. With the addition of two more non-White, Democratic districts, all of the aforementioned changes would make this chamber more representative of the state.
Thanks for reading!
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The maps were created using Dave’s Redistricting App: gardow.com/…
2016 Election Results were acquired via Dave’s Redistricting App 2020 update
The charts and data were assembled using spreadsheets via Stephen Wolf’s guide: www.dailykos.com/…
The Statistical Atlas was used to match the district numbering: statisticalatlas.com/…
Link to Florida Senate Map
Alternative Districts: Florida State Senate
Alternative Districts: Florida State House of Representatives