Do we have a deal in Texas? Apparently we do and this will be the Congressional map. Feel free to draw your own conclusions.
Congressional (Plan C226) here
State house (Plan H303) here
State senate (Plan S167) here
Note: These maps are merely proposed and not final til the court writes an order.
Will we have an April 3 or April 17 primary?
Note this a raw post, with no time for good assessments. Updates to follow.
12:24 PM PT: UPDATE #1: Metro Corpus Christi is now separated from Brownsville as happened in the original legislature drawn maps. TX-27 stretches to Austin suburbs. In the house Corpus Christi now has three districts again unlike the legislature maps.
12:26 PM PT: State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, says she's not in any deal:
There is no agreement on a Senate map. Rather than meet the concerns of Texas voters, the Texas Attorney General continues to advance the same effort to dilute minority voting strength as we saw attempted in the 82nd Legislative Session. This is not a good faith effort.
12:33 PM PT: Austin still looks like a 5 way mess. I can't really picture the Dems signing off on these maps. Is this just a desperate ruse by Abbott to try to preserve an April 3 primary for Abbott?
12:40 PM PT:
12:45 PM PT: Did Abbott really get a sign on from all parties or did he just get an agreement from 1 of the 9 groups suing the state? Hmm?
12:51 PM PT:
12:54 PM PT:
12:57 PM PT: The San Antonio Express News says:
The proposed compromise, put together by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, would likely force U.S. Rep Lloyd Doggett back into a Hispanic- dominated district that runs from Austin to San Antonio, along I-35. It also transforms a Fort Worth-area district a coalition district that would probably elect an African American into a district dominated by Latinos.
12:59 PM PT:
1:09 PM PT:
1:14 PM PT:
1:38 PM PT: The Texas Democratic Party just sent out an email stating:
Just moments ago, Attorney General Abbott issued a statement outlining an agreement reached with some parties regarding the ongoing redistricting legal fight. We were not involved in the discussions that produced this agreement, we are not in agreement to the maps released by the Attorney General, and we do not expect that these maps will be used for the 2012 election.
We're greatly disappointed the Attorney General did not deal in good faith with all parties involved.
For the Texas Democratic Party, any maps that do not have the consent of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, the Legislative Black Caucus, and other plaintiffs are nonstarters.
The Attorney General is clearly terrified that the DC court will find that the state’s maps are discriminatory in both effect and intent. Until there’s a legitimate agreement among the parties, we support the court continuing to do its work.