A Better East Texas: Republican-led Texas Legislature gears up for redistricting

EAST TEXAS (KLTV/KTRE) - The 2020 census is finally in and yes, city population signs will soon be revised to reflect the new census data.

And if you follow state politics any, you know that the Texas legislature has completed a redistricting exercise where data from the census is used to redraw the districts for the next state house and federal congressional footprints. The Republican-led state legislature has completed the exercise and now, the new maps will be challenged with lawsuits to force them to be redrawn.

Overall, the new maps favor republicans, which are in control of the statehouse. That was no surprise. But one facet of these maps is that rural Texas, including East Texas, is losing representation to the more urban areas of the state. This is because the largest cities in Texas are growing faster than the more rural areas, including East Texas.

So, some of our districts will now include some urban areas of the state to satisfy population goals for each district. It is a load of numbers in a jigsaw puzzle, and the party in power gets the chore of putting it all together every 10 years. This will create opportunity, as well, as some candidates and potential candidates for these revised districts will now have a fresh battleground, and hopefully, it will inspire more to get involved.

Every election is important and every vote counts – now more than ever - so look for these geographic changes in a political landscape that needs to hear from you and that will make for a Better East Texas.

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