Tarrant County commissioners heard from residents who both condemned and celebrated the county’s new proposed political maps at their meeting Tuesday.
Last month, Tarrant County’s Republican commissioners outvoted the Democrats 3-2 to start an unusual mid-decade redistricting process. All five proposed maps would largely reshape the two Democratic precincts, Precincts 1 and 2, making them more favorable to Republicans, according to past election data shared by the county.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons says Republicans are trying to draw her out of her seat before she’s up for reelection next year. In a Fort Worth Star-Telegram op-ed Monday, Republican County Commissioner Manny Ramirez argued redistricting is necessary to solidify consistent, conservative control over county government.
Republicans are achieving their goal by splitting up communities of color and throwing those voters into a single precinct, diluting their voting power, Democratic Precinct 1 Commissioner Roderick Miles Jr. said at Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting.
“We cannot build stronger communities by cracking them apart or packing their voices into silence,” he said.
Some of the proposed maps would remove Lake Como, a historic Black community, from Miles’ precinct – a result he said would be unacceptable.
The Como residents who spoke at the meeting urged commissioners to drop the effort. Ella Burton referenced the barbed-wire wall that used to separate Como from the white Ridglea neighborhood next door.
“I've seen brick walls come down, but I've seen invisible walls go up,” she said.
Each commissioner represents one geographic precinct, except for the county judge, who represents the entire county.
Redistricting happens at the local, county, state and national level, usually after the Census every 10 years. Maps have to be redrawn to make sure the population is relatively even between political districts.
After the last Census in 2020, a previous set of Tarrant County commissioners decided to leave the map unchanged because there was little population deviation between the precincts – about 2%.
When Republicans started the redistricting process again in April, local Democrats sounded the alarm. Hundreds of people have attended recent town hall meetings, where many opponents to redistricting accused Republicans of gerrymandering — or redrawing the maps to benefit themselves.
Supporters of the process say redistricting will improve the county’s political representation.
The redistricting process is always political, and both parties use it to their advantage, according to experts. That happened in Harris County, when Democrats redrew their commissioners court maps, Houston Public Media reported.
In his op-ed, Commissioner Ramirez pointed to that as an example for why Tarrant County needs another Republican-leaning precinct. To Ramirez, Democratic leadership has hurt Harris County.
“These changes were followed by rising taxes, budget instability and growing public safety challenges — costly distractions from the core responsibilities of county government,” Ramirez wrote.
Political watchers look at Tarrant — which is unusually conservative for a large, urban county — as a “mini battleground state.” Ramirez acknowledged that people who want to see Tarrant flip solid blue are frustrated with redistricting.
“This process isn’t about denying anyone representation, gaining power or stacking the deck,” he wrote. “It’s about ensuring we continue to have steady, effective leadership that prioritizes results over rhetoric and policies that work over political theater.”
Ramirez denied that race has been a consideration in mapmaking, and supporters of redistricting at Tuesday’s meeting criticized the idea that the process is racist.
“I don’t see this as racial gerrymandering. I see this as partisan gerrymandering,” Tim Moloney said.
“I detest the thought that drawing a line on a map has anything to do with race,” Jolyn Potenza said.
Mapmakers are allowed to take race into account, experts previously told KERA News. It just can’t be the only consideration.
The Voting Rights Act also bans discrimination in mapmaking. That might look like packing a disproportionate number of Black voters into one district or cracking apart a Latino community into multiple districts to dilute their vote.
A lawsuit goes to trial this week that will determine whether the state Legislature discriminated against Latinos in Dallas and Tarrant counties when redrawing maps in 2021, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Simmons has said she is considering a lawsuit if one of the proposed Tarrant County maps takes effect.
The fight over redistricting has spilled over to other local governments in Tarrant County. The Fort Worth City Council voted 6-4 along party lines to condemn the county redistricting process in a vote on Tuesday. One member was absent.
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross asked city staff for an investigation into whether the process is legal. He told residents at a hearing on Saturday to expect results this week.
There is one more public hearing about redistricting scheduled, at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Gary Fickes Northeast Courthouse in Hurst.
A final vote on a new map is expected at the commissioners court meeting on June 3, according to Simmons.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org.
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