Plano Star-courier > News
Court sets May 29 primary election date
By Bill Conrad, bconrad@starlocalnews.com
Voters and candidates alike can breathe easier after a federal court set a date for the state primary elections.
The San Antonio court issued new redistricting maps on Tuesday, and followed up by setting a May 29 election date on Thursday afternoon. The state primary was originally supposed to occur on Super Tuesday, March 6, before being rescheduled for April 3 and eventually May 29. The runoff elections will be held July 31.
With maps now in place and a primary date set, the filing period for all state and national races reopened today and will run until 6 p.m. March 9. Candidates who previously filed will be able to modify their applications until the filing deadline. The last day to withdraw from the race is March 12.
The maps released by the three-judge panel on Tuesday are virtually identical to the ones approved by the state legislature in May. The two most prominent changes are the creation of state House District 33, which begins in Frisco before wrapping around the north and east border of the county and going down into Rockwall County. The other major addition deals with U.S. House District 3, currently held by Sam Johnson, which will now include all of McKinney. Previously, the city was split between Johnson's district and Ralph Hall's District 4.
After the maps were released, both political parties released statements. The Republican Party of Texas predicted the court-issued maps will create one less Republican district in the state House compared to the maps drawn by the legislature. However, the party said the previous maps drawn by the court contained three less Republican seats, so the appeal by Attorney General Greg Abbot should be seen as a success.
"While we are disappointed that the San Antonio three-judge panel did not follow completely the legislative maps in [the] new maps, we are appreciative of General Abbott's efforts to mitigate the damage done by the federal courts by appealing this to the Supreme Court," said Steven Munisteri, the chairman of the Texas Republican Party. "His successful efforts to have the U.S. Supreme Court intervene has resulted in a new map which should enable the Republican Party of Texas to maintain a substantial majority of the Texas House of Representatives, and gives us a chance to obtain the second highest number of Republicans ever elected to the Texas House."
The Republican Party also said they should gain two of the four new U.S. Congressional seats, while keeping a Republican majority in 19 of the 31 state Senate seats.
The Texas Democratic Party said it was not happy with the new maps, and said it will continue to support civil rights groups who have announced they will continue the legal fight to have more minority representation in the new maps.
"We appreciate the court's efforts, but their maps are far from accurate representation," said party spokeswoman Rebecca Acuņa. "These maps may be slightly better than those passed by a radical legislature but they still grossly misrepresent the demographics of our state. The Texas Democratic Party will continue to support our allies who are fighting to ensure that all communities are accurately represented."
The San Antonio court issued new redistricting maps on Tuesday, and followed up by setting a May 29 election date on Thursday afternoon. The state primary was originally supposed to occur on Super Tuesday, March 6, before being rescheduled for April 3 and eventually May 29. The runoff elections will be held July 31.
With maps now in place and a primary date set, the filing period for all state and national races reopened today and will run until 6 p.m. March 9. Candidates who previously filed will be able to modify their applications until the filing deadline. The last day to withdraw from the race is March 12.
The maps released by the three-judge panel on Tuesday are virtually identical to the ones approved by the state legislature in May. The two most prominent changes are the creation of state House District 33, which begins in Frisco before wrapping around the north and east border of the county and going down into Rockwall County. The other major addition deals with U.S. House District 3, currently held by Sam Johnson, which will now include all of McKinney. Previously, the city was split between Johnson's district and Ralph Hall's District 4.
After the maps were released, both political parties released statements. The Republican Party of Texas predicted the court-issued maps will create one less Republican district in the state House compared to the maps drawn by the legislature. However, the party said the previous maps drawn by the court contained three less Republican seats, so the appeal by Attorney General Greg Abbot should be seen as a success.
"While we are disappointed that the San Antonio three-judge panel did not follow completely the legislative maps in [the] new maps, we are appreciative of General Abbott's efforts to mitigate the damage done by the federal courts by appealing this to the Supreme Court," said Steven Munisteri, the chairman of the Texas Republican Party. "His successful efforts to have the U.S. Supreme Court intervene has resulted in a new map which should enable the Republican Party of Texas to maintain a substantial majority of the Texas House of Representatives, and gives us a chance to obtain the second highest number of Republicans ever elected to the Texas House."
The Republican Party also said they should gain two of the four new U.S. Congressional seats, while keeping a Republican majority in 19 of the 31 state Senate seats.
The Texas Democratic Party said it was not happy with the new maps, and said it will continue to support civil rights groups who have announced they will continue the legal fight to have more minority representation in the new maps.
"We appreciate the court's efforts, but their maps are far from accurate representation," said party spokeswoman Rebecca Acuņa. "These maps may be slightly better than those passed by a radical legislature but they still grossly misrepresent the demographics of our state. The Texas Democratic Party will continue to support our allies who are fighting to ensure that all communities are accurately represented."
Copyright © 2013 - Star Local News