Greg Abbott Approves New Congressional Maps, Marc Elias Files Lawsuit Alleging They Violate the Voting Rights Act on the Basis of Race

Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott today approved new congressional maps for Texas which should give Republicans two new seats in the House of Representatives and shore up other districts currently held by Republicans.

Former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias promptly filed a lawsuit alleging that the new maps violate the Voting Rights Act on the basis of race.

Texas Republicans have denied the claim and insisted that race was not taken into account, except for when preserving equal representation.

Elias tweeted out that, “Texas Governor Abbott has signed the gerrymandered congressional map. Stand by for litigation news…”

Texas Governor Abbott has signed the gerrymandered congressional map. Stand by for litigation news…

— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) October 25, 2021

Gerrymandered maps in Illinois, for example, which Democrats are proposing, would tilt power in their favor in a much larger way.

Joe Biden won Illinois in 2020 57%-40%, yet the proposed maps would give them a 14-3 advantage, which translates to a 82%-18% advantage.

Donald Trump won Texas 52%-46% and U.S. Senator John Cornyn won 54%-44%, and the proposed maps would give Republicans a 25-13 advantage, which translates into only a 66%-34% advantage.

The Texas lawsuit claims that “by purposefully spreading out Latinx and Black communities in some districts and packing them into other districts, the new congressional map creates more opportunities for white voters and less opportunities for Latinx and Black voters to elect their representatives of choice.”

Considering that those groups vote Democrat at a high rate, this would be beneficial to the Democrats, which is clearly the goal.

Lawsuits filed in Illinois assert that they split up the communities too much, so it shows that they really have no interest in ensuring that there is proper opportunities for certain ethnic groups to be represented.