by By Texas Metro News Correspondent Rita Cook
The county of Ellis This year’s parliamentary session was undoubtedly unique.
It is becoming even more edgy now that the special session season has started.
The current war cries are gerrymandering and redistricting, and the stakes are considerable depending on your stance.
I ask Ellis County GOP Chair Randy Bellamy about the redistricting situation in order to have a better understanding.
Bellamy clarified that although the census indicated that there were roughly 192,000 people in Ellis County, the actual population was significantly more.
According to Texas 2036, the state’s population was 29,145,505 in 2020, a 16 percent increase from 25,145,561 in 2010. The population of Texas, however, may have been undercounted by anywhere between 166,129 to 953,059, according to a recent census estimate.
Texas must undoubtedly take action on the loss of federal cash and the extra political seats it is entitled to.
The redistricting lines being revised as a result of the census undercount, however, is what the Democrats appear to be most upset about.
Let’s fast-forward to the July 21 special session that started in Austin.
It has been chaotic.
After Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatened lawmakers with arrest and expulsion from the House of Representatives for failing to provide him with a quorum to approve the redistricting map that was submitted late last week, the Texas House Democratic Caucus released the statement Come and Take It this past Sunday.
On Sunday, the Ellis County GOP made a post on Facebook. Governor Abbott is giving the Find Out half of the FAFO, while the Democrats appear to be practicing the Fool around part.
This week’s out-of-state trip by Texas House Democrats who visited Illinois and California last week will prevent a quorum.
In response, Abbott said Now the truancy is over. When the house meets again at 3 p.m. on August 4, the Democratic members who have been absent must go back to Texas and be present.
He also mentioned that he intended to use Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to strip the absent Democrats of their Texas House membership.
Gene Wu, the chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, stated We do not make this choice lightly, but we do so with complete moral clarity. Governor Abbott’s deference to Donald Trump has made the victims of a historic tragedy political prisoners. In order to carry out a shady political bargain, he is stealing the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans by utilizing a map that is purposefully discriminatory.
Only 15% of Texans think redistricting should be a top priority right now, and almost 70% think it’s unfair for politicians to alter district lines in order to select their voters, according to an independent study conducted by the RABA Research firm, which the Democrats also insisted on.
To keep the game going, Texans and Americans in general are fed up with erroneous survey results from both parties.
I’m also fed up with politicians wasting tax resources by holding expensive special sessions that can cost up to $2 million.
Texas was undercounted in the most recent census, despite Democrats’ claims that Trump is to blame for the gerrymandering and redraw of district borders.
Texans are now seeing men and women fighting over toys like they are in a sandbox while flipping the bill for the baby bottles, rather than both parties cooperating to find a solution.
A compromised equitable system of drawing new district borders without putting We the People—in this case, We the Texans—at risk is just as worthy of special session consideration as the flawed census results.
Besides, outside of the major cities, Texas has always been red.
The GOP will gain five more seats in the upcoming midterm elections thanks to last week’s altered map.
Last Saturday, the Texas Tribune published a story. The state contests the Department of Justice’s claim that four districts unlawfully merged Black and Hispanic voters. Two people will remain multiracial even if the proposed map is approved.
What comes next?”Real Texans don’t run from a fight” was the opening statement of Governor Abbott’s press release over the weekend.
Regarding that, what if true Texans didn’t flee the urgent need to replace all the politicians that care more about securing their own agenda than making concessions to all sides?
