A Brief History of Mid-Decade Redistricting in Texas
Texas’s current mid-decade congressional redistricting effort has historical precedent. In 2003, Texas legislators undertook a similar mid-cycle redistricting that reshaped the state’s political landscape. Republicans, who had won control of both legislative chambers in the 2002 elections, launched an effort to replace the court-drawn congressional map from 2001. The legislature’s 2003 map significantly shifted the partisan composition of the Texas delegation, ultimately leading to a net gain of several Republican seats in Congress.
The 2003 process drew national attention when Democratic legislators dramatically fled the state in protest, attempting to deny the legislature the quorum necessary to pass the new congressional districts. In May 2003, House Democrats traveled to Ardmore, Oklahoma, and in July, Senate Democrats fled to Albuquerque, New Mexico, each time hoping their absence would stall the proceedings. Their departure halted legislative business temporarily, but after weeks of high-profile media coverage and political negotiation, enough lawmakers returned to Austin, allowing Republicans to pass the new map.
The resulting map faced significant litigation. In League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry (2006), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the plan but invalidated one district under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, finding it diluted Hispanic voting power. Nonetheless, the precedent established in Texas clarified that mid-decade redistricting was not prohibited by federal law and could be undertaken as a political strategy, provided the resulting maps complied with constitutional and statutory requirements. As Texas again embarks on a mid-decade redistricting, this historical context highlights both the political stakes and legal complexities involved.
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