On the surface, Texas’ redistricting process is supposed to be apolitical; but in practice, it is one of the most political processes that the Texas Legislature engages in.
The final result will determine the political disposition of lawmakers and, subsequently, policy in the Lone Star State for the next decade and beyond.
In this introductory episode of a limited podcast series specific to Texas’ redistricting process, Trey Trainor, a current commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, helps explain the overall process and the rules that guide it, as well as the recent history from the last few times Texas has undergone redistricting.
“There’s absolutely going to be litigation coming out of redistricting. It always is, you know, it’s a very partisan activity. It’s one where Republicans and Democrats are pitted against each other, you know, trying to vie for the most seats. And so they’re going to take every shot they can, and courts are often the way to do that. The unique element for this particular cycle of redistricting is that we’ll probably see more litigation at the state level than we will at the federal level. The U.S. Supreme Court has kind of taken away a lot of the jurisdiction for federal courts to handle redistricting cases, based on the past couple of terms, in cases that they’ve handled,” said Trainor.