Travis County, Redistricted, Then and Now.

At Least Two (0.00 / 0)

Given the population of Travis is about 800K, and CD's have only 650K, you need at least two. 

Keeping counties together is hardly a priority.  Dallas has part of 6 CDs even though it doesn't even have the population to support 3.5.  Tarrant has 4 CDs but it only has the population support of only 2.2 CDs.  Of the 8 CDs (2 of them are in both) and 3.7 million people in Dallas and Tarrant, we have only one Democrat.

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by: blank @ Mon Aug 07, 2006 at 20:46:45 PM UTC

Ahhhh - but I said "Austin"! (0.00 / 0)

I knew the Travis population was over 650K. Hence, the reference to Austin proper.

The Metropolitan Statistical Area is big enough to support two full time congress critters, rather than the 5 (6?) we have right now.

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by: jelyon @ Tue Aug 08, 2006 at 00:04:47 AM UTC

Mea Culpa! (0.00 / 0)

I must have misread it the first time, and I don't know the exact border of Austin proper either.  But, check out Fort Worth and Dallas.  They are both similarly butchered.  In particular, if Fort Worth proper had its own CD, it would be about 30% Latino and 20% Black, making it a minority (potentially Dem) district.  Currently, the minorities are largely split between Burgess and Granger, who really represent suburban and rural white people in Denton and west Fort Worth.  How the Supreme Court ruled this legal is a butchering of logic.

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by: blank @ Tue Aug 08, 2006 at 16:01:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Wouldn't it be nice to have that old (1911) requirement for "Compact and Contiguous" back? (0.00 / 0)

Plus, I'd like to seem more emphasis on "communities of interest."

Really, urban areas shouldn't be lumped together with rural areas.

I suppose it's unavoidable that some urban/suburban areas would get lumped together, and that some suburban/rural areas get lumped together.

But that should prolly be avoided, too.

What's the population of FW? (Too lazy to look it up...)

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by: jelyon @ Tue Aug 08, 2006 at 22:16:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Population of Fort Worth (0.00 / 0)

According to census.gov Fort Worth had 624,067 people in 2005, so it is really close the population of one CD.  However, it has some really strange boundaries. For instance, American Airlines headquarters are technically in Fort Worth though 20 miles from downtown, and part of Fort Worth extends outside of Tarrant County.  I don't really know what the population of the major city. 

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by: blank @ Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 23:08:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]