Texas' long-awaited primary date could still be in jeopardy due to controversy over the former district of an Austin lawmaker.
The San Antonio federal court issued an order March 1 setting the primary elections for May 29 and the runoff election date for July 31 with a reopening of candidate filing March 2–9.
The order was issued two days after the San Antonio court released interim congressional and state House maps, and approved the state Senate map agreed upon Feb. 15 by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth. The map leaves Davis' District 10, which includes Grapevine, Colleyville and Southlake, unchanged.
Legal battles halted the Texas Legislature's new redistricting maps from going into effect for the 2012 elections, originally delaying the March primary to April. Texas is now looking at a May 29 primary, though controversy over Congressional District 25 is threatening to delay the primary for a third time.
The interim maps resemble the Feb. 6 compromise plan between Abbott and the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force, though the compromise had been quickly rejected by the San Antonio court, as it lacked support from several minority advocacy groups. As in Abbott's plan, the court-ordered congressional map would make half of Texas' four new congressional seats Hispanic-controlled, including the newly created District 35, the former district of U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin.
Furthermore, the map resembles the original one drawn by the Republican-led Legislature that divided Travis County into five districts, cutting at Doggett's support base by reconfiguring his current district, District 25, and creating District 35 out of his former one. After the release of the San Antonio maps, Doggett stated he would run in District 35.
But most minority groups say District 25 is a coalition district, protecting it under the Voting Rights Act. Margaret Moran, League of United Latin American Citizens national president, issued a statement expressing concern over the maps, including the changes in Travis County.
"Obviously the interim maps need more work. We hope that the D.C. court will deny Texas preclearance," Moran said. "LULAC will continue to fight for a redistricting map that fully reflects the growth of the Texas Latino population."
A U.S. federal court in Washington, D.C. — charged with approving the maps — requested information from TLRTF, which has claimed that "Anglo voters dominate the Democratic primary" in District 25, so protection is not required. The court began review of that information March 13.
According to Steve Bickerstaff, adjunct law professor at The University of Texas School of Law, the primary would be delayed if the D.C. court agrees District 25 needs protection, but the procedure does not allow enough time to make changes by the March 31 deadline to have maps in place to uphold the May 29 date. However, he said the D.C. court could rule no changes are needed, the U.S. Supreme Court could get involved or the San Antonio court could decide the district dispute is too disruptive to the 2012 elections.
