A Texas Republican state lawmaker on the battle for redistricting : NPR

The battle over redistricting in Texas drags on as Democrats proceed to disclaim state Republicans a quorum for a vote.

On Sunday, Texas democrats fled the state to keep away from giving state Republicans a quorum for a particular session. They need to keep away from voting on a brand new congressional map drawn by Republicans, which they are saying disenfranchises voters.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has known as for the arrest of those Democrats, and is asking the state Supreme Court docket to take away Gene Wu, the chair of the state’s Democratic caucus.

In the meantime, Democrats have vowed to remain out of the state of Texas till late August — when the particular session ends.

So what’s comes subsequent on this redistricting standoff? And the way may Texas Republicans transfer ahead?

State consultant Tom Oliverson, chair of the Texas Home Republican Caucus, joined All Issues Thought of host Ailsa Chang to share his ideas on the subsequent step of this battle.

Some solutions have been edited for been evenly edited for size and readability.

Interview Highlights

Ailsa Chang: This congressional map is being redrawn after your celebration already drew it in 2021. And one of many essential objections to what you all are doing is that Texas Republicans are doing this solely as a result of President Trump requested you to take action. So let me simply ask you immediately, is that true?

Tom Oliverson: No, we aren’t. And actually, the primary conversations that I heard about and had myself concerning redistricting started earlier than the legislative session in January on account of the courtroom case the place a federal appeals courtroom mainly rejected the thought of the coalition on districts as being according to the Voting Rights Act.

Chang: That mentioned, President Trump does say that Republicans are, “entitled to 5 extra seats in Texas.” Do you agree with that, that you’re entitled to 5 extra seats?

Oliverson: I believe what I might say is that we actually have the best to take a look at the maps and make modifications. I believe the courts have persistently held that redistricting for functions of political efficiency by both celebration is appropriate. Different states have carried out that.

A lot has been mentioned concerning the state of Illinois, the place plenty of my Democratic colleagues have taken refuge as being primarily a state that overperforms for the Democrat Occasion by greater than 30 factors.

Chang: Democrats are saying that this proposed map out of your celebration will disenfranchise Texas voters, particularly voters of colour. What’s your response to that?

Oliverson: The state of Texas, for people who have sort of been maintaining with present occasions, minorities are trending in the direction of Republicans.

There’s this false sense of equivalency that I believe plenty of my Democratic colleagues have created. We heard this in one of many redistricting hearings, {that a} district that was much less African-American would take a Democrat vote away. And the fact is, is that African-Individuals, in addition to Hispanics, notably in South Texas, have trended in the direction of Republicans.

Chang: Governor Abbott is telling state Democrats which have fled that he’s calling for his or her arrest. He is additionally saying that he, because the governor, has the facility to take away somebody from state workplace if they don’t return to Texas. How would that work?

Oliverson: I am not an lawyer, so I am not going to attempt to be a authorized knowledgeable and say what I believe legislation enforcement can or would do by way of returning people who find themselves exterior the state to the state.

I do imagine sooner or later they should come again. And after they do come again, we’re going to cross the maps. And that is what occurred final time. You already know, plenty of us lived by this in 2021. And the true drawback right here is that they run away as a result of they do not need to vote on a invoice. They don’t have any plan and no strategic outlook on this.

So I do not even know that they should be arrested, per se. And I suppose I might additionally level out that we’re actually at this level solely a handful of votes wanting making quorum anyway. The individual on the middle of this that you just talked about, Governor Greg Abbott is an lawyer, a former choose, and is the previous lawyer common of our state. And he believes that there’s a mechanism, as does our present lawyer common of our state, that there’s a legitimate authorized mechanism to declare that these people have deserted their district and the seat that must be vacated.

Chang: In the meantime, this lack of quorum signifies that there can’t be votes on issues like aid and new warning techniques after the devastating floods in Texas final month. What’s the standing of all of that enterprise? Is all of that enterprise stalled primarily?

Oliverson: Properly, it’s to a sure extent. Now, committees are nonetheless having hearings. There was a listening to yesterday within the Texas Home on 5 separate items of laws that needed to do with our emergency preparedness emergency activation system.

I believe everyone is aware of that we had an incredible tragedy final month in central Texas. And our emergency response system was lower than the duty, particularly not within the wee hours of the morning in areas the place cellular phone reception is traditionally very poor due to the rocky terrain.