Redistricting Efforts Should Focus On Keeping The Coastal Bend United, Area Officials Said
CORPUS CHRISTI — State lawmakers charged with redrawing political boundaries said they got the message from dozens of area residents and officeholders Wednesday — the Coastal Bend doesn’t want to share its lawmakers with the Rio Grande Valley.
Elected officials and residents from Nueces, Aransas, Bee, Refugio and San Patricio counties, aired their views before the joint hearing of the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Redistricting and the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence. The meeting drew more than 100 people to the council chambers at City Hall.
It’s not that Coastal Bend can’t get along with its Valley neighbors and even work together on commonalities, several area residents said. It’s about having a congressman who doesn’t represent two competing communities of interest.
During the upcoming legislative session state lawmakers are charged with drawing congressional boundary lines that will take into account at least three, maybe four, new seats in the U.S. House or Representatives. One of those could be anchored in Corpus Christi.
Redistricting also could alter representation in the state Legislature and the State Board of Education.
Corpus Christi Mayor Joe Adame, Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal, San Patricio County Judge Terry Simpson and Aransas County Judge Burt Mills one after another said the Coastal Bend is united. All of the men said redistricting efforts should keep that in mind.
“I think we have greater unity between communities than we have ever had,” Neal said. “Those counties are working together better in every area. We want to keep it that way. What I hope you take away from here today is that the communities of interest around the bay are focused on what is best for our citizens and the state.”
Former state Rep. Hugo Berlanga, a Democrat, who often lobbies for the Port of Corpus Christi, said a community of interest is one that takes the same newspaper and watches the same TV stations. And an ideal congressional district would not have a single congressman representing two competing ports, he said.
Berlanga was referring to U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, whose district includes the Port of Corpus Christi and the Port of Brownsville.
Mills confirmed that officials are looking for a congressional district of their own, one that represents the Coastal Bend alone.
Ortiz couldn’t be reached for comment.
But a handful of local Democrats including Nueces County Democratic Party chairwoman Rose Harrison, Nancy Vera and Susie Luna Saldana, said if the Coastal Bend was drawn into its own district it would lean conservative and disenfranchise Hispanic voters, who often vote Democrat.
Bryan Bode, a member of the Nueces County Young Democrats, said Nueces County already has a 2 percentage point advantage for Republican candidates. Redrawing the congressional district to include counties north of Nueces, would give Republicans a 10 to 12 percentage point advantage that would keep a Democrat from ever representing the Coastal Bend, Bode said.
Vera said she does not see how she can tell her Hispanic students that they will have fair representation in the face of the upcoming redistricting effort led by Republicans.
“Deep in the heart of Texas there is manipulation for personal and political gain that seems to be the rule rather than the exception,” Vera said. “When I see the arbitrary and capricious manner that has plagued the state for decades, how can I tell them that they are equally represented in the state of Texas.”
Former Bee County Judge Jose Aliseda, a Hispanic Republican running against Democrat incumbent state Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, D-Alice, tried to move the focus of the debate away from ethnicity.
“I’d like to talk to you not as ... a minority,” Aliseda said. “I believe we are losing the goal of redistricting. It’s about having someone go to the state or federal government that represents the way you think, not necessarily the way you look.”
Huey Fischer, an 18-year-old Democrat from heavily Republican Aransas County, articulated a similar message that drew enthusiastic applause.
Fischer said Aransas County has been neglected because it is in a state Senate district anchored in Katy and a U.S. House District anchored in Lake Jackson.
“I don’t mind our (U.S.) Rep. Ron Paul, he is a pretty curious and nifty fellow,” Fischer said. “But I don’t remember the last time he visited us. ... It’s frustrating to have districts that are so far away from us. I want to have communities of interest. I believe our community is Corpus Christi and Nueces County. I had to look it up on Google Map to see where (state Sen.) Glenn Hegar (R-Katy) lives. We have different issues and different interests.”
State Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, said people want to make sure that any redistricting effort follows the constitution, Voting Rights Act and prior Supreme Court rulings. He believes many Coastal Bend residents are looking for a non-partisan, open and transparent process.
State Reps. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, and Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, said after the meeting that speakers made a good case about creating a district central to Corpus Christi.
“Some could say, don’t they have a lot in common,” Hilderbran said of the Coastal Bend and Rio Grande Valley. “They have similar populations and both have ports. But if you look at it through a different prism, it can look a lot like competing interests. I think this is something that will seriously considered.”
Peña said Ortiz’s district already is anchored in the Valley. Because Republicans, who have control of all of the statewide offices, the state senate and house, they will be driving the bus when it comes to where the new seats go, he said.
“It can be either a liberal or moderate district in the Valley or a more conservative district in Corpus Christi,” Peña said. “Since the deciders are the Republicans in charge of the process, it’s not hard to see where we are going.”
