Texas Republicans spare Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in redistricting compromise
Democratic U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is being spared in a new revised version of a congressional redistricting plan that had previously threatened to force thousands of mostly Black Houston residents to change who represents them in Washington.
Texas House Democrats battled over the weekend to force House Republicans to accept a compromise proposal that keeps downtown Houston, Third Ward and Texas Southern University all within the 18th Congressional District.
The Texas Senate had passed a redistricting plan last week that would have removed all of that from Jackson Lee’s district and put her personal residence in the 9th Congressional District, forcing a potential primary between Jackson Lee and U.S. Rep. Al Green, the only Black members of Congress from Houston.
“Senate Bill 6, as it passed out of the Senate, unnecessarily paired two of the congressional districts currently held by the longest-serving African Americans in Congress,” state Rep. Senfronia Thompson said of the maps. “I’m grateful to my colleagues in the Texas House for understanding the pleas of our communities and for those who voted in favor of our amendment, 118-19.”
Read more: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Republicans-spare-Rep-Sheila-Jackson-Lee-in-16542254.php