FRI brief 10.15.21
Map odds & ends ahead of the weekend
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Today’s Stories
HOUSE MAPS will be on the floor of the Senate today, where they are likely to move unmolested through the chamber, not that they don’t need to be altered.
Before getting back to the maps, after a typically slow start, the third special session is humming in its final days.
Last night the House passed a ban on dysmorphic youths (boys) competing against girls. The left is not happy about this taking place, but it’s (in part) their fault for tactically delaying the U.S. census released to interfere with redistricting.
The movement of this bill and a handful of other minor red meat bills suggest lawmakers are efforting to rap up sessions and hit the campaign trail after a long 2021 legislative season.
The Texas’ House maps get a grade of a C from Princeton University’s Gerrymandering Project. Contrast this with the partisan Democrat maps drawn in Illinois, which bring an F on the same index.
The maps have been drawn to protect some incumbents and to the benefit of Democrats.
Dade Phelan has targeted one of the most conservative members of the Texas House while drawing strong seats for Democrat members in the suburbs of Austin.
Despite these efforts, the swing back to Republicans in 2022 and the continued trajectory of minority voters to the GOP do not bode well for Democrats in the long term.
While the House maps move to the Senate, Congressional, SBOE, and Senate maps are headed to the House.
FIVE THIRTY-EIGHT projects that even if Texas Congressional Districts were drawn with a majority-minority mandate, Republicans would win a majority of seats moving forward.
GARY GATES is a newly minted member of the Freedom Caucus.
It’s not immediately clear why Gates has joined at this juncture. Rep. James White, joining when he did, immediately ahead of his statewide run, is transparent resume padding.
Gates scored a 65 on the Fiscal Responsibility Index, a mark good enough to place him 26/149 members but far from freedomy.
Aside from getting some hypothetical conservative street creed, the value of being a member of the caucus is unclear.
Hit the Links
Zuck’s bucks were election interference
Winter heating bills set to jump as Biden-inflation settles in
Appeals court denies DOJ's request to suspend Texas abortion ban
Straus-Larson ticket should happen but probably won’t
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