On Monday, the Biden administration jumped into the scrum of lawsuits challenging Republican gerrymandering in Texas, asking a federal judge in El Paso to block new maps that dilute political power for the state’s fast-growing Black, Hispanic, and Asian communities.
“Texas’ 2021 redistricting plans were enacted through a rushed process, with minimal opportunity for public comment, without any expert testimony, and with an overall disregard for the massive minority population growth in Texas over the last decade,” U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a press conference on Monday announcing the lawsuit.
“Texas’ population grew by 4 million people from 2010 to 2020, and 95 percent of that growth came from minority populations,” Gupta added. “Despite this significant increase in the number and proportion of eligible Latino and Black voters in Texas, the newly enacted redistricting plans will not allow minority voters an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice.”
