(Thanks to the DLCC for cross-posting this. The 1992 map also shows how detailed the lines got with the advance of computers in map drawing. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Texas residents enjoy one of the most informative and data-laden redistricting websites of any state in America, maintained by the Texas Legislative Council. The site contains detailed descriptions of the redistricting process in Texas; the state and federal requirements for various types of districts; and an interactive "DistrictViewer" capable of comparing actual and proposed maps down to the street level.
But the information we found most interesting was an archive of congressional redistricting plans from Texas statehood until today.
The maps show Texas' early days as a two-district state (a jarring image for those used to seeing a 32-district congressional powerhouse). There are historical quirks like Texas' temporary 19th Century claim to Greer County, which spent several years with no House representation at all and later became part of Oklahoma.
The archive also clearly demonstrates the impact of Wesberry v. Sanders (1964), which established the redistricting principle that all congressional districts must be approximately equal in population. As was common in many urbanizing Southern states prior to Wesberry, the archive shows that Texas redistricted only once between 1917 and 1957. And the 1965 redistricting plan was the first in which several urban counties were split into more than one congressional district. (The 1957 plan only divided Harris County in half, whereas 5 counties were divided in 1965.)
And of course, there's the infamous DeLay-mander of 2003, the maps for which are more commonly available.
All-in-all, this is a wonderful resource for those interested in political history. If combined with county-level election results, it might be interesting to see how some of these districts voted in presidential elections - recent or otherwise.
This is the first in a series of posts examining the future of Texas Politics that I hope to write. I intend to examine ongoing demographic and political shifts in detail, and look to the future of statewide elections, Congressional and State Legislature elections, and redistricting.
Texas is the second largest state in the Union, after California.
Texas has been, for several years, a majority minority state.
Texas has 34 electoral votes, which will increase to 37 or 38 for the 2012 Presidential Election.
On the Presidential level, Texas has been one of the primary pieces (if not the primary piece) in the Republican Electoral College puzzle for years.
On the State level, Texas has not voted for a Democratic candidate for anything Statewide since 1994.
Yet if we can extrapolate from current trends, at some point in next decade Texas will become a bona fide purple swing state. Then it will become a blue state. Then it will become a linchpin of the Democratic electoral coalition, and as Texas flips, modern Conservative Republicanism as we know it will face mortal danger.
Whenever we hear stories about “the good old days,” they always involve some sort of line meant to make you feel lazy. Lines such as “I had to walk a mile through the rain and snow,” or “you kids don’t know how easy you have it,” are not unfamiliar to us. In some cases, though, the good old days were easier than they are now. For a long stretch of Texas history, Democrats were in control of government from the state house all the way to the governor. It makes a loyal young Democrat like me wonder: what kind of weather did Texas Democrats have to endure back then?
Texas has been a Democratic stronghold for a long time, stemming all the way from the formation of Texas as a state. “The Republicans back then were not even a viable organization,” says Chandler Davidson, author of Race and Class In Texas Politics. “The Democratic Party in Texas had three wings to it that basically satisfied everyone: there were liberals, conservatives, and moderates all within the one party.”
You can link to TheTexasBlue.com in order to read the rest of the article that I have written. I talked to lots of Texas Democrats that have been around for a while and have watched this state change folks. I hope that you will check it out. I learned a lot while writing it, and with the aspiration that others would too.
The maps show Texas' early days as a two-district state (a jarring image for those used to seeing a 32-district congressional powerhouse). There are historical quirks like Texas' temporary 19th Century claim to Greer County, which spent several years with no House representation at all and later became part of Oklahoma.
