With redistricting in the offing, battle for the Texas House heats up

RICHARDSON -- It’s not easy to explain redistricting in Texas, but Brandy Chambers, a Democrat running for Republican state Rep. Angie Chen Button’s suburban Dallas seat, is willing to give it a try.

“Now you’re gonna have to hold on to your britches and let me walk you through it because it’s not a direct A+B+C,” Chambers playfully warns a gaggle of her supporters in a dimly lit back room of the Ye Shire Tavern at a summer campaign event.

The 46-year-old lawyer animatedly points to a few “nice, very expensive” homemade poster boards propped up on a table as she regales three dozen campaign volunteers and supporters with talking points on redistricting, top of mind for many state legislators and politically minded people these days, even if the process won’t start in earnest for another 15 months.

“Now the Texas House and the Texas Legislature are the ones that are responsible for drawing those lines and determining who gets to vote where in 2021,” Chambers says as she bumps into one of her posters with colorful maps and charts. “This is pivotal. And now that the Supreme Court has declared that political gerrymandering is not their business ... then that means it is on us to basically set our own rules and to keep this accountable.”

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20191011/with-redistricting-in-offing-battle-for-texas-house-heats-up