REDISTRICTING

The Republican-drawn maps largely serve to bolster the party’s dominance. The maps are being challenged based on various claims, including intentional discrimination, vote dilution and racial gerrymandering.

More than 39,000 San Antonio residents are now in a new city council district after the 10 present members of the city council unanimously adopted a new council district map Thursday.

In order to re-balance the population of the city’s 10 council districts after a decade of lopsided growth, the city council has to approve a new map using the population numbers from the 2020 U.S. Census.

Republicans dismantled the only Galveston County commissioners precinct in which voters of color held political clout. It’s a major blow for Black and Hispanic voters who had been building political momentum.

Brackenridge Park is currently split between District 1 and District 2 along East Mulberry Avenue, but the proposed map would place it entirely within District 1 by removing the only two precincts in the district that are fully to the west of Broadway Avenue.

Texans who don’t vote in primaries and primary runoffs are missing a chance to choose who goes to Congress and the Texas Legislature. Thanks to the political maps drawn by lawmakers last year, only a handful of those contests will be competitive in November.

An advisory committee made up of council appointees has created the first draft of a new council district map, based on the 2020 U.S. Census numbers. Under the proposal, nine out of 10 districts would have their boundaries shifted.

See the full list of candidates in the Democratic and Republican primary runoffs, and find out who’s on your ballot based on where you live.

Powell, a Democrat, had won Senate District 10 by winning over a coalition of diverse voters in Tarrant County. The GOP redrew the district to branch out to counties to the south and west that made it more rural and more white.

As Texas defends against accusations that its new political maps are discriminatory, it’s laying the groundwork to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out longstanding Voting Rights Act protections.

Texas has a history of a dismal turnout rate in primary elections. This year’s turnout was higher than the last six midterm primaries. Still, less than 1 in 5 registered voters participated.

See the changes made to congressional, Texas House and Texas Senate districts in the San Antonio area.

The redrawn state Senate District 10 splits Black and Hispanic voters in Tarrant County. A full trial on whether GOP lawmakers intentionally discriminated against voters of color is expected later this year.

A three-judge federal panel is hearing arguments in a lawsuit claiming that Texas Republicans violated the Voting Rights Act when they redrew state Senate District 10 in Tarrant County to lessen Black and Hispanic voting power.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, is the favorite to return to Congress via Texas’ 37th District, while Republican Wesley Hunt is the leading contender in the 38th District.

With less than five weeks left in the primary election season, there is no shortage of political issues to debate. But most of the political conversation isn’t about the election.

Challenges to new Texas laws on voting, political districts and abortion are all pending in court, as is the state’s challenge to federal vaccine mandates. But until the courts rule, those laws remain in place — and they provide political fodder for the incumbents who support them.

New Braunfels City Council members on Wednesday gave initial approval to a map reconfiguring the six single-member districts for city council representation in response to data from the 2020 Census

The Texas 2022 primary will take place March 1. See the full list of candidates statewide and find out who's on your ballot based on where you live.

The city of New Braunfels will continue its redistricting process this week to reconfigure the six single-member districts for city council representation, with council members reviewing draft maps and population-demographic

In 2021, the Tribune’s data visuals team helped tell the biggest stories affecting Texans. Here’s a roundup of our most impactful work.

Dallas-area Latinos hoped their growing numbers would finally translate into political clout this year through the creation of a new congressional district anchored by their communities. Instead, their neighborhoods were splintered between numerous white-majority districts.

Texas’ population has grown 40% this century, and 91% of the new Texans are people of color. Federal judges now have to decide whether those monumental changes are reflected in the state’s political maps.

Texas lawmakers illegally discriminated against voters of color by drawing new political districts that give white voters more political power despite rapid growth of Hispanic and Black populations, the department claims in its lawsuit.

For Texas voters, fear of an insecure border consistently overshadows other issues — electric grid failures, handgun regulation, abortion access — even when those things top the news.

Asian and Pacific Islander populations surged in Texas over the past decade, but their political power is weakened under new congressional maps. A northwest Houston neighborhood offers a case study in how that was done.

Lucio is retiring from the Rio Grande Valley seat, and Dominguez wants to continue his legacy of focusing on education in the region. But he suggested he would take a different approach to at least a couple issues, including abortion.

The Rio Grande City lawmaker was the least liberal Democrat in the Texas House this year, according to a political scientist’s rankings of lawmakers.

Here are the key takeaways from Tuesday’s town hall, “Out of Bounds: Repercussions from Redistricting.”

A seemingly routine county redistricting process turned contentious as Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert accused Precinct 1 Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores of possibly putting a political opponent into his district. Calvert is up for re-election in the March 2022 primary.

Republican incumbents enter their reelection campaigns well ahead of their Republican challengers and with most voters unacquainted with the Democratic challengers in the field, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

On Tuesday, November 9th at 7 p.m., Steve Spriester and Stephania Jimenez will host a livestream to take a closer look at the process of redistricting and how it affects Bexar County

See the changes made to congressional, Texas House and Texas Senate districts in the San Antonio area.

The Mexican American Legislative Caucus is arguing that the new state House map violates the Texas Constitution. The lawsuit follows two legal challenges to the state’s new maps previously filed in federal court.

In Texas, the Legislature draws political maps — with results that predictably favor the party in power. Do independent commissions do any better?

Ordaz Perez announced she will challenge Fierro after new political maps forced her to run against another incumbent if she wanted to seek a new term. Democrats have criticized the GOP-drawn House map for diluting the El Paso area's representation.

The new political maps drawn by Texas Republicans have run into some criticism from academics studying gerrymandering. That puts the Texans in the same boat with Illinois Democrats.

The new political maps drawn by the Texas Senate don't just favor Republicans; that much was expected from a Republican majority. The maps help Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pick which Republicans he wants in the Senate.

After conservative complaints about the national results in the 2020 election, Texas Republicans have tried to anticipate everything that might play against them in 2022, right down to who’ll be at the helm.

The redistricting process in the GOP-dominated Legislature made many political districts less competitive, which some experts believe might hurt civic engagement.

This year’s elections will take place using newly redrawn political maps for the state’s congressional, House, Senate and Board of Education districts. Search your address to see how the new districts will affect your community.

The fast-growing region likely will see a considerable number of new state and federal lawmakers after the 2022 election. And in many cases, they will be representing districts whose boundaries have significantly shifted.

On this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Alexa, James and Patrick about the end of the Texas Legislature’s third special session and whether there will be a fourth.

The controversial issues you’ve heard Texas lawmakers debate for most of the year aren’t going away; many of them will be argued all over again during the 2022 elections.

With partisan fervor, Republicans drew new maps for Congress and the Legislature that dilute the power of voters of color. Now the lawsuits begin, as groups that feel marginalized battle for representation in the halls of power.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s office says there’s no plan for a fourth special session at this time. If this was the final special session of the year, what did we learn from it?

Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Secretary of State Jose A. Esparza are being sued over new redistricting lines drawn up by the state Legislature.

Before they’re even signed into law, the state’s new maps for congressional and statehouse districts have been challenged in federal court by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The Austin Democrat, who has served in Congress since 1995, currently represents the 35th District, which stretches down to San Antonio. He will run in the newly created 37th District located in Travis County.

“Turn Texas Blue” was the Democratic rally cry in the 2020 elections. It didn’t happen, and with the maps the Texas Legislature is drawing, it’s not in the cards for 2022, either.

The redistricting plans for the House, Senate and State Board of Education were approved Friday.

The likely new district comes as Texas Republicans continue to try to make new inroads in South Texas after the 2020 election.