Introducing the Texas Legislative Redistricting Board:

All On The Line started this series to shine a light on the backroom board of five politicians who could have control of Texas’s state legislative redistricting process ahead of important elections in the runup to 2022.

In June, we introduced you to Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick -- one of the most hostile opponents of universal vote-by-mail.

In July, we told you about indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton -- a man who said that a “fear of contracting COVID-19 does not amount to a sickness or physical condition” that warrants a mail-in ballot.

In August, we talked about two would-be map manipulators: Texas's General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush and Comptroller Glenn Hegar.

This month, we're introducing you to the Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. If the LRB were seated today, he’d be the final member of the redistricting board. But he decided to retire after getting caught up in a scandal. Nonetheless, if Republicans hold the Texas house, we expect his replacement to be made in his image.

Would a Bonnen-like replacement be a threat to fair maps?

Texas conservatives who elected Bonnen as speaker of the house probably won’t look too far to try and find a replacement with similar “values.” Those values?

During his time in office, House Speaker Bonnen said his goal is to make sure local governments are unable to function.

Bonnen presided as speaker of a conservative majority that still fails to make the priorities of the people the priorities of government -- Medicaid, for example, though popular with Texans, still has not been expanded under Bonnen’s House.

He -- and conservatives like him -- just don’t want local government to serve the people’s interests. That’s why they shouldn’t be in a backroom drawing electoral maps.

If conservatives pick Bonnen’s replacement, that person would do the same -- if not worse -- if drawing electoral maps in a backroom with four other like-minded politicians.

As we ramp up our outreach efforts to prevent unaccountable, ideological partisan politicians in states like Texas from manipulating the maps, can we count on you to chip in to help sustain our efforts for the battle ahead?

Is there a chance to put a fair map advocate on the board this year?

Great question. We’re not super excited about partisan politicians gathering in a backroom to hammer out electoral maps, regardless of who they are. It’s a fundamentally flawed concept. But it’s especially flawed when conservatives have the chance to elect a carbon copy of Speaker Bonnen.

As speaker of the house, Bonnen’s spot on the LRB could go to someone else -- but only if Democrats take the majority in the Texas legislature this fall. If that new majority elects a fair map advocate to the speakership this fall, that would put at least one champion on the LRB.

However, with the district lines already notoriously gerrymandered in Republicans’ favor, this is yet another example of how hard it is to break the cycle of gerrymandering.

Why does this matter?

If conservatives have their way again and put a Bonnen-like replacement in charge of the redistricting process, the extreme interests of special groups will be put ahead of the will of everyday constituents. It's a part of why conservatives are employing voter suppression tactics.

All On The Line is doing everything we can to make it easier -- not harder -- to vote, including working for commonsense election protections and to educate Texans on how to cast a ballot this year.

However, our success depends on educating people about these sorts of smoke-filled backrooms -- and stopping them early by bringing light and transparency into the process. Will you chip in to help us reach more people and let them know that the time to fight back in states like Texas starts now?

Thank you,
The AOTL Team

All On The Line is the grassroots advocacy campaign supported by the National Redistricting Action Fund. Support our work to end gerrymandering.