Republican State Rep. Todd Hunter lays out Texas House redistricting bill October 12, 2021

 

 

House Map Alteration Puts GOP
in Striking Distance of Valley Seat

Capitol Inside
October 13, 2021

Texas House Republicans voted late Tuesday night for an amendment that would create a competitive seat in the Rio Grande Valley with a last-second maneuver that caught the Democrats by surprise and sparked cries of foul from the local delegation from the state's southern tip.

The House backed the revision in an initial vote of 73-69. A request for a verification prompted an old-fashion roll call that the amendment cleared on a 72-70 vote. Three Republicans - State Reps. Dan Huberty of Humble, Lyle Larson of San Antonio and Bryan Slaton of Royse City - sided with Democrats who were unanimous in their opposition to the change.

Sponsored by GOP State Rep. J.M. Lozano of Kingsville, the provision would shift the city of Harlingen into the district that Democratic State Rep. Alex Dominguez of Brownsville represents. The Lozano amendment draws Dominguez's residence into the district where Democratic State Rep. Eddie Lucio III plans to step down without a re-election race in 2022.

Lucio and Dominguez were angered by the stealth power play on which they hadn't been consulted or warned. Lozano acknowledged that he'd filed the amendment about 10 minutes before the deadline after being approached by a group of people from Harlingen who wanted to take advantage of an opportunity that the upcoming opening in Lucio's district provided to build a district that both parties would have a shot to win.

Lozano refused to name anyone specific from Harlingen when grilled by Lucio on the source of the amendment. Lucio suggested that he believed that Lozano had been lying about the ostensible influence from outside forces in an area that he's represented on the Mexican border in Cameron County for almost 15 years.

The Lozano amendment puts the GOP in position to pick up an extra seat in a part of the state where Hispanic Democrats have had a monopoly on legislative and congressional seats. The redistricting plan that the House debated all day and into the night could culminate in a gain of three or four seats if not more in the Legislature's lower chamber.

Lozano, who chaired the House Redistricting Committee in 2017, served one term as a Democrat before switching to the GOP after the Republicans overhauled his seat on a new map 10 years ago. There's apparently been no love lost since the breakup - and Democrats suggested that the amendment was a chance to take a shot at the Rio Grande Valley delegation that had essentially disowned him.

Lozano said he'd had an interest in Cameron County since representing South Padre Island and part of Port Isabel during his initial term in the House. But Lucio, who was visibly upset, said he hadn't seen Lozano in Cameron County a single time since it was severed from his own district in the move that spurred the party switch.

more to come ...

 


 

 


 

 

 

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