Texas Five

Texas Five

The Texas Five was a term coined for a group of five Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Texas. They were identified in this manner because the Congressional redistricting plan passed by the Texas legislature for the 2004 elections forced these five Democrats out of their previous districts and into ones dominated by Republicans and/or occupied by Republican incumbents. The five Democrats were Martin Frost, Charles Stenholm, Max Sandlin, Nick Lampson, and Chet Edwards. Only Edwards survived the redistricting, as the other four Democrats lost their bids for reelection. The races were especially notable for their extreme cost. Martin Frost's race against a Republican incumbent, Pete Sessions, was the most expensive U.S. House race in the 2004 elections. The four defeated Democrats had a combined 68 years of experience in the House of Representatives.

Controversy

Some consider the plan that ousted four of the Texas Five, a prime example of gerrymandering. Naturally, a redistricting plan that put five long-time incumbents in trouble was controversial. Representative Tom DeLay was responsible for the plan, which he forced through the Texas Legislature after two walkouts by Texas Democrats. DeLay has since been accused of wrongdoing for using the Federal Aviation Administration to force the Democrats back into session in Texas to vote on the redistricting, as well as for helping fund several Republican candidates for the state legislature in 2002. Republicans took the majority in the state legislature in 2002. In October 2004, the United States Supreme Court ordered a lower court to review the redistricting plan to determine whether or not it was unduly partisan and unfair to Texas voters. The Circuit Court upheld the districts but it went back to the Supreme Court, which in "League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry" dismissed the statewide claims of partisan gerrymandering (7-2), in large part because the Court found the districts drawn in 1991, largely by Frost to be just as partisan. However, the Supreme Court also ruled 5-4 that District 23 was a racial gerrymander in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

See 2003 Texas redistricting for information on the Democratic walkouts from the Texas legislature to Oklahoma and the resulting controversy this caused.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Texas Woman's University — For the historical Texas Woman s College in Fort Worth, Texas, see Texas Wesleyan University. Texas Woman s University Established 1901 (1901) Type …   Wikipedia

  • Texas Legislature — Infobox Legislature name = Texas Legislature coa pic = Texas state seal.png coa pic = session room = Texas State Capitol building front left front oblique view.jpg house type = Bicameral houses = Senate House of Representatives leader1 type =… …   Wikipedia

  • Texas Lottery — Commission headquarters in downtown Austin The Texas Lottery is the government operated lottery available throughout Texas. It is operated by the Texas Lottery Commission, headquartered in downtown …   Wikipedia

  • Texas Department of Criminal Justice — Logo of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Agency overview …   Wikipedia

  • Texas A&M Aggies — University Texas A M University Conference(s) Big 12 SEC (July 2012) NCAA …   Wikipedia

  • Texas divisionism — is a mainly historical movement that advocates the division of the U.S. state of Texas into as many as five states, a prerogative guaranteed to Texas as a condition of the former Republic of Texas joining the Union in 1845.Texas divisionists… …   Wikipedia

  • Texas zip code map — Texas ZIP Codes are a numerical system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service in the state of Texas to guarantee a piece of mail is properly directed to its desired location. The basic format consists of five numerical… …   Wikipedia

  • Texas Instruments — Type Public Traded as NYSE: TXN …   Wikipedia

  • Texas Department of Public Safety — Abbreviation TX DPS Patch of the Texas Department of Public Safety …   Wikipedia

  • Five Americans — was a 1960s American band, most famous for the song Western Union ,[1] which reached #5 in the U.S. Billboard chart and was their only single to chart in the Top 20. In Casey Kasem s Book of Records category of most repetitive word or phrase in a …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”