'We Need To Kill This': Texas Dem Chris Turner Tears Into GOP's Redistricting Push

Forbes Breaking News

During debate on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives, Reps. Chris Turner (D) and Harold Dutton Jr. (D) denounced the Republican effort to pass new Congressional maps.

Transcript

00:01Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

00:04Members, again, this is the amendment to strike the enacting clause.

00:09This amendment, if we adopt it, and I hope we will, will kill this bill and we'll end this sham process.

00:17And as you've already heard in this debate so far on this bill,

00:24this bill intentionally discriminates against black and Hispanic Texans,

00:29and other Texans of color, by cracking and packing minority communities across the state of Texas,

00:36in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, in Harris County, in the greater Houston area,

00:42in Austin, in San Antonio, in the Rio Grande Valley,

00:46it is a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution.

00:53This body has no business passing this bill.

00:56We need to kill it and get on with the real business of the people of this state.

01:01And so I would ask that you vote no on the motion to table.

01:05I'd be happy to yield for questions.

01:07Mr. Speaker, Mr. Dutton, for what purpose?

01:08Will the gentleman yield for questions?

01:10Gentleman yield for questions?

01:11Yes, I will.

01:11He yields for questions.

01:13Do you know what changed between the 2021 litigation and today?

01:21No, Mr. Dutton, I do not know.

01:27I don't know what the reason for this is,

01:29other than apparently some people in D.C. called up and said they wanted it.

01:32But we have no new census data.

01:34We're still operating under the 2020 census data,

01:37because there's not been another census.

01:39So the data used for this map is more than five years old now.

01:42And so the way it stands now,

01:48you're aware that the DOJ letter was sent to Texas

01:53suggesting that certain changes ought to be made

01:58based on their determination that there was racial makeup of the maps,

02:05current maps.

02:06Yes, I'm aware of that letter that every voting rights expert I've heard from,

02:11we heard from several in our committee hearings, Mr. Dutton,

02:14respected voting rights experts who said that the DOJ letter

02:18has absolutely no basis in law.

02:20But that is the letter seemingly that set off this whole process

02:24because Governor Abbott cited it in his first proclamation

02:29calling the first special session.

02:31Interestingly, he did not cite it in the proclamation for this session.

02:34I don't know why that is, but it did set off the process seemingly.

02:37And the contents of the letter,

02:39is there anything different in this bill

02:42that's different in the letter?

02:47Yes.

02:48I don't have the letter with me,

02:51but the bill, or I'm sorry, the letter from DOJ

02:54specifically identified a handful of districts around the state.

02:58This bill impacts not only those districts,

03:03but multiple other districts around the state.

03:05So it extends the boundaries that were defined in the letter?

03:11I believe so, yes.

03:12And the basis,

03:15is the basis any different for the bill than in the letter?

03:18That might be a question best addressed to the bill author,

03:26but I think that the letter, in my opinion, Mr. Dunn,

03:31I think the letter was simply pretext to jumpstart this entire process.

03:37And no matter what people's process was for getting to where we are today,

03:46the end result is that more than 2 million black, Latino,

03:51and other minority Texans are going to have their voices diluted

03:55and extinguished in their ability to elect a candidate of their choice

03:59to the U.S. Congress.

04:00And it is wrong, and it's clearly illegal.

04:03Are you aware of the legal concept of disparate impact?

04:08Yes.

04:09I'm not a lawyer, but I am familiar with the term.

04:11Okay, yes.

04:12And so what it says is that you may,

04:16and this is giving them something,

04:18but you may have intended something not to be racial,

04:21but the reality of it is,

04:23and the effect of it is,

04:25that it has to be concluded to be racial.

04:28Absolutely, and I think as we hear the bill author

04:33and other proponents of this legislation talk about partisanship,

04:40we should not let that rhetoric fool any of us

04:44because what is happening is clearly racially discriminatory,

04:52and that's what the problem is with this map.

04:55And really, this political participation is simply a mask

04:59over what the real intent and the real effect of this bill is,

05:05which is to change it based on racial lines.

05:09Is that correct?

05:09I think that's very well said.

05:10And I have one last question.

05:12The latest map shifts population in Baytown from CD9 to CD36

05:18and then shifts the nearby population in Baytown from CD36 to CD39.

05:25Do you know why the map shifts these two sets of population

05:29in the same city back and forth like that?

05:32That's an excellent question, Chairman Dutton.

05:34I have no idea what the bill author's rationale for doing that was.

05:38Well, okay, Mr. Chairman, thank you for this amendment,

05:43and I think you have a good amendment.

05:45Thank you, Chairman Dutton.

05:46Thank you for this amendment.

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