As Todd J. Gillman, our Washington bureau chief, reported this morning, Texas' unrivaled population growth over the past decade means the state will have four additional seats in Congress after the next reapportionment.
Where those seats will be -- and which party will control them -- depends on how the Texas Legislature decides to redraw the boundary lines for the state's congressional districts.
Even though the Republicans control both houses of the Legislature, early predictions are that redistricting will result in a split: two new districts that Democrats are likely to win, and two that seem safe for Republican candidates. Those predictions reflect the demographic reality that much of Texas' astounding population growth over the last 10 years has been among Hispanics, who tend to vote with the Democrats.
Ted Delisi, a Republican strategist who worked on the 2001 redistricting, told The Texas Tribune yesterday that three of the new seats will probably be in Dallas, Houston and the Rio Grande Valley, areas where the population growth has been dramatic.
And a senior Republican in the U.S. House, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, gave hope to North Texas Democrats when he told the San Antonio Express-News that he wouldn't be surprised if one of the four new seats turns out to be a predominantly Hispanic district in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
All of that, of course, depends on a lot of political wrangling and horse-trading that is yet to come. Once the Legislature approves a new map, the redistricting would take effect with the 2012 congressional elections.
Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/will-texas-population-surge-me.html
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