All five proposed redistricting maps would give Republicans the edge in one of Tarrant County鈥檚 Democrat-controlled precincts, data shared by the county shows.
In April, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 to hire a conservative law firm to redraw commissioners鈥� precincts. Republican commissioners supported the effort, arguing that a redistricting is long overdue. Democrats accused Republicans of redrawing the maps to strengthen their majority on the court.
Now, five proposed maps have been released, and all of them would largely reshape the Democrat-controlled precincts in southern Tarrant County. With some variations, the proposed maps would split a chunk of Arlington off Precinct 2 and extend the precinct west through Fort Worth鈥檚 southern suburbs.
Democratic County Commissioner Alisa Simmons represents Precinct 2. She鈥檚 up for reelection next year, and she sees redistricting as an attempt by her Republican opponents to draw her out of her seat, she said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 see any electability for myself,鈥� she said of the proposed maps. 鈥淚 am hopeful and prayerful, but one of these five maps is going to be selected by the majority of the court members. And neither of them have a path to reelection for me for Precinct 2."
According to past election data published alongside each map, the current Precinct 2 has mostly swung Democratic in races for president, U.S. Senate and governor since 2016.
That鈥檚 flipped in the new proposed versions of Precinct 2, where voters mostly favor Republican candidates, the data shows.
This is not an uncommon political move, University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus said.
"These maps definitely make the distribution of seats look much more Republican and much more to the right than it was before,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here's no question.鈥�
四虎影院 has reached out to all county commissioners for comment on the proposed maps. County Judge Tim O鈥橦are represents the entire county, not a particular precinct, and he brought the redistricting plan to commissioners court.
The redistricting plans will weaken the electoral strength of Tarrant County鈥檚 minority communities, Simmons said.
鈥淓ach map surgically removes minority neighborhoods from Commissioner Precinct 2, and packs them into another district, Commissioner Precinct 1, for the sole purpose of destroying their voting strength," Simmons said.
The new proposed maps for Precinct 1 resemble the distribution of Black residents in Tarrant County, as shown in a map from the 2021 redistricting process.
Bob Heath鈥檚 law firm put that demographic map together. Heath helped draw Tarrant County鈥檚 last map, and for him, this does not automatically raise alarms of packing 鈥� a racially discriminatory mapmaking practice, when maps concentrate a racial or ethnic group in one district.
鈥淚t's going to be a problem if you're putting so many of the minority group in the district that you're overloading the district,鈥� Heath said. 鈥淪o if it were an 80% African-American district, you know, you'd be really concerned. This is nowhere near that."
The data available online does not include how each precinct鈥檚 demographic makeup would change under the proposed maps.
The county will hold four public hearings about redistricting this month, :
- May 13, 6 p.m., Azle ISD Administration Building, 300 Roe St., Azle
- May 14, 6 p.m., Como Community Center, 4660 Horne St., Fort Worth
- May 17, 10 a.m., Arlington Subcourthouse, 700 East Abram St., Arlington
- May 21, 6 p.m., Gary Fickes Northeast Courthouse, 645 Grapevine Hwy., Hurst
A representative from the Public Interest Legal Foundation, the law firm hired to lead the redistricting process, is scheduled to brief commissioners at their public meeting Tuesday.
Redistricting usually happens after the U.S. Census every 10 years. A previous set of commissioners decided to leave the map unchanged following the 2020 Census, because each precinct was within the recommended population balance.
The five proposed maps would make the population deviations between precincts even smaller, according to data shared on the county鈥檚 website. Some options would leave the precincts exactly even.
The population data the Public Interest Legal Foundation used seems to be based on the 2020 Census count. The populations in each precinct add up to the official population of Tarrant County in 2020, which was 2,110,640 people.
The precincts that have zero deviation on paper likely have some deviation in real life, Heath said. The Census is never exact, and on top of that, five years have passed since 2020.
鈥淎re those districts exactly in balance? Probably not, but that's as good as we're going to get," Heath said.
People interested in the redistricting process can submit their comments to the county, and their own map ideas, on . They can also email redistricting@tarrantcountytx.gov.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org.
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