Redistricting Hearings Cast Shadow Over EP Congressional Race

There is an important round of redistricting hearings set for this week that will play important role in the race for the Congressional race in El Paso.

Well, on the Democratic side anyway. On the Republican side it doesn't matter. Whoever the Republicans nominate is going to get beat like they stole somethin'.

Here is an article that gives you some background.

You may not know it, but redistricting plays a huge role in the El Paso Congressional race. District 16 is one of the districts in question. And the question is whether the Republicans purposely created the maps in such a way as to discriminate against minorities and whether any part of the map diminishes minority representation.

(Quick side bar - In my opinion, hell yes the Republicans created the maps to discriminate against minorities and diminish our ability to elect candidates of our choice. Its a big part of the reason why Republicans have such a hard time appealing to minorities. Its also our fault. They know that they can distribute minorities in to districts based on raw population numbers and because of our shitty voter turn-out they know we will almost help them screw us. Plus, they can then turn around and make up rules that will further affect our ability to elect candidates of our choice through things like voter ID, etc. Don't like it? Its simple, vote. And DON'T vote Republican until they start valuing minorities in their party instead of just using them as tokens. Trust me, there are a lot of tokens that practically beg for attention to be the good little minority for the GOP. Don't believe me? Just ask the head of Somos Republicans that just ditched that "dump".)

Anyway, the reason this matters to El Paso is that if the map is kicked out (Texas has to get their maps approved by the feds because of historical issues involving minority representation, as do several other states), then the maps have to be redrawn.

The way the map of the 16th District of Texas is drawn now, under the Republicans, is the best case scenario for a Congressional bid based on the demographics of El Paso and past performance of the Congressman in elections. In short, the lines give O'Rourke the absolute best chance for to win, primarily because most of the Lower Valley is no longer in Congressman Reyes' district.

The Republicans felt like it was more of a community of interest with San Antonio. Yes, that's sarcasm, but its also their argument.

Its still a huge uphill battle for O'Rourke, but the current lines give him the best shot.

If the feds say the lines need to be redrawn, you can bet that people from the Lower Valley, the state Democratic Party, and probably the Congressman will push to put the valley back in his district. If the Congressman picks up even a moderate part of the valley in his district, it will likely be the deciding factor in the race.

Its not that there is huge turnout in the valley, but in a Presidential race it will be pretty big and will likely break largely for the Congressman.

This won't be something that is decided for quite a while yet, but its a big deal because it means both sides have to be careful about where they target resources, advertising, block-walking, phone banking, etc...

I think more than any position either candidate has, where the lines are drawn will determine the winner...