Summer in Texas is supposed to be a time for families to come together. For kids to splash in pools, ride bikes and attend summer camp with their friends. For parents to slow down and savor time with the people they love.
That’s how it should have been this past Fourth of July.
Instead, tragedy struck. When the rain fell at historic levels, homes were swept away, neighborhoods went underwater and loved ones were buried.
In the aftermath of it all, 135 lives were lost. Nearly 40 of them were children.
These floods shattered lives. Entire families are still grieving. Communities are still rebuilding. And while so many Texans are trying to put their lives back together, Republican leaders in Austin are primarily focused on something else: redrawing political maps.
At a time when we should be laser-focused on helping flood survivors and protecting families from future disasters, Texas Republicans are choosing to play politics. On the very first day of the special session, they made their priorities clear by rushing to gerrymander our communities.
Let’s call this what it is: an attack on our democracy and an attack on Latino and other minority communities whose voices are too often the first to be silenced when those in power rig the rules.
This is nothing more than a power grab to dilute Latino and minority representation, weakening the political power of the very communities who are driving Texas’s growth. And they are being shut out of decisions that impact their lives.
There’s no good reason to do this right now. There’s no new census. No court order. No urgent need. Just a blatant power grab and a desperate effort to help an unpopular president rig the next election to hold onto power after he kicked 11.8 million people off Medicaid, cut 5.4 million people’s SNAP benefits, and transferred $1 trillion from working families to billionaires.
These misplaced priorities are frustrating, disrespectful and wrong. Texans are hurting. Communities across Texas need real help, not partisan games.
To make matters worse, the redistricting process is being rushed behind closed doors. In 2021, lawmakers held 12 hearings before drawing new maps. This time, Texans will only get four. All of them are virtual, even though millions of Texans still don’t have reliable internet access.
Seven million Texans still lack broadband. That’s 7 million Texans that the committee would shut the door on by only allowing virtual hearings.
That’s not democracy. That’s not listening. That’s silencing our people.
And when people don’t feel seen or heard, they stop believing the system works for them. We can’t let that happen, because right now, Texans are depending on us to get it right.
Instead of gerrymandering districts, we should be prioritizing broken infrastructure, investing in flood prevention, expanding early warning systems, repairing flood-damaged infrastructure, and putting policies in place to make sure this kind of devastation never happens again.
We owe it to every family that lost a home, a business or someone they loved.
I didn’t run for office to play political games. I ran to stand up for the people of El Paso, Big Bend and the Permian Basin who deserve to be seen, heard and respected in the decisions that shape their lives. I’ll keep pushing back against efforts to gerrymander our communities and for fair representation so that every Texan, no matter their background or the color of their skin, has an equal voice in our democracy.
Texas belongs to all of us — the people who raise families here, who work hard and who show up for one another every single day. And we won’t allow our voices to be redrawn out of the conversation.
The Texas Senate Committee on Congressional Redistricting will be hosting a virtual West Texas Region Public Hearing on Tuesday, July 29, at 8 a.m. MDT/9 a.m. CDT. I urge you to register, raise your voice, and speak out against this power grab.
Click to register here before 8 p.m. MDT/9 p.m. CDT Monday, July 28.
César J. Blanco represents the 29th District in the Texas Senate, which includes El Paso and seven other counties.
The post Opinion: Texans deserve better than misplaced priorities appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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