Late news from the redistricting front: The Texas congressional delegation has weighed in with its “bipartisan compromise” plan. This has been in the works for several weeks. I first heard about it a week ago today, when I went to Laredo for a congressional hearing on immigration that was attended by several Texas lawmakers. This morning, I heard that they were haggling over the last few precincts.
Here are the highlights of the plan: It does NOT reunite Webb County; instead, Bonilla appears to pick up additional Latinos around San Antonio. It does restore Doggett’s Travis County base.
If any plan is going to have influence with the judges, this one has the best shot. Judges are usually loathe to draw incumbents out of office. The main drawback: the Supreme Court’s foremost concern was the Webb County split, and the plan doesn’t fix it.
