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CNN Live Sunday
Republican Party After Majority In Texas
Aired October 19, 2003 - 18:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Republicans have the U.S. presidency, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House and now they want a Republican majority in the Texas congressional districts.
Wayne Slater writes for the "Dallas Morning News" and he joins us from Austin. Wayne, thanks for being here.
WAYNE SLATER, AUTHOR: Good to be here.
LIN: So, Texas has redrawn its districts after a long fight. Is it a done deal?
SLATER: It's a done deal. The redistricting effort on the legislative side is over. The next step is the courts. This whole ugly redistricting fight where Democrats ran off at one point to Oklahoma, another point to New Mexico, finally ended after five months across the street here at the Texas Legislature and now it's all a matter of the Democrats trying to challenge the thing sort of about half "Survivor" and now that we're off the island the rest of it is "Judge Judy."
LIN: All right.
SLATER: So, when the courts decide we'll find out.
LIN: Well, let me give our audience just a tape of some of the language being bandied about down there. Two Congressmen say that the remapping was really just an effort to bunch Hispanics and Blacks together to alienate White voters from the Democratic Party but the speaker of the Texas House, a Republican, call it opportunity districts, in other words opportunities for the minorities to express themselves fully.
What is real down there? I mean what is this effort, how do you see this effort?
SLATER: Well, how you see what's happened here depends on where you're standing when you look. If you're a Republican it is an opportunity for some more minority districts.
The basic final map that was approved would, I think, all sides agree advance the Republican cause, increased by maybe five, six, possibly even seven seats the number of Republicans who will represent Texans in next year's election. Republicans will win that many extra seats.
On the other hand, the map likely will produce a new Black district and a new district for Hispanic, an additional Hispanic could win, so Republicans tout that.
On the other hand, Democrats say no. The map that you've configured here has taken away White Anglo incumbents who traditionally have voted in the interest of minorities in Texas and so forth in the end the end product is a map, is a district, is a confederation of delegates to Washington who will not represent Democratic interests.
LIN: So, do you think, do you see any of the fingerprints of Carl Rove or anybody else at the White House on this plan?
SLATER: Let me tell you the big winner here is Tom DeLay, the House Majority Leader. He was involved early. He was involved often. He was involved in the final few days of the session where he redistricted the entire map going back and forth from the House and the Senate chamber. He wins. He will likely win these extra seats and that's good for him.
The winner is the White House. Carl Rover, the political director for the president, was very interested, talked with some members of the Texas Senate and the governor on frequent occasions and wanted to be sure that the president has many, many more House members from Texas who will represent his views.
The loser here frankly are the Democrats who find themselves for the first time in a century with, as you said, not a single institution of elected office, not the legislature, not state-wide offices, not the governor, not the U.S. Senate and now not the members of Congress.
LIN: So you think this is going to hold up in the courts?
SLATER: It's anybody's guess. Basically what's going to happen is Democrats will challenge this and what they'll say is that the final map as reconfigured is radical in the sense that it has disenfranchised over a million Black and Hispanic voters in Texas.
If federal judges buy that argument, and it's an elaborate argument to be made, then in fact we may run next year with the current districts but if, in fact, these Republican judges, which ultimately could go to the U.S. Supreme Court rule that no the map is fair and honest and judges by and large like not to get involved in redistricting fights, then this map very likely will hold up.
LIN: Well, we'll see what happens. Thank you very much Wayne Slater, author of...
SLATER: Good to be with you.
LIN: I love your title "Bush's Brain." All right, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 19, 2003 - 18:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Republicans have the U.S. presidency, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House and now they want a Republican majority in the Texas congressional districts.
Wayne Slater writes for the "Dallas Morning News" and he joins us from Austin. Wayne, thanks for being here.
WAYNE SLATER, AUTHOR: Good to be here.
LIN: So, Texas has redrawn its districts after a long fight. Is it a done deal?
SLATER: It's a done deal. The redistricting effort on the legislative side is over. The next step is the courts. This whole ugly redistricting fight where Democrats ran off at one point to Oklahoma, another point to New Mexico, finally ended after five months across the street here at the Texas Legislature and now it's all a matter of the Democrats trying to challenge the thing sort of about half "Survivor" and now that we're off the island the rest of it is "Judge Judy."
LIN: All right.
SLATER: So, when the courts decide we'll find out.
LIN: Well, let me give our audience just a tape of some of the language being bandied about down there. Two Congressmen say that the remapping was really just an effort to bunch Hispanics and Blacks together to alienate White voters from the Democratic Party but the speaker of the Texas House, a Republican, call it opportunity districts, in other words opportunities for the minorities to express themselves fully.
What is real down there? I mean what is this effort, how do you see this effort?
SLATER: Well, how you see what's happened here depends on where you're standing when you look. If you're a Republican it is an opportunity for some more minority districts.
The basic final map that was approved would, I think, all sides agree advance the Republican cause, increased by maybe five, six, possibly even seven seats the number of Republicans who will represent Texans in next year's election. Republicans will win that many extra seats.
On the other hand, the map likely will produce a new Black district and a new district for Hispanic, an additional Hispanic could win, so Republicans tout that.
On the other hand, Democrats say no. The map that you've configured here has taken away White Anglo incumbents who traditionally have voted in the interest of minorities in Texas and so forth in the end the end product is a map, is a district, is a confederation of delegates to Washington who will not represent Democratic interests.
LIN: So, do you think, do you see any of the fingerprints of Carl Rove or anybody else at the White House on this plan?
SLATER: Let me tell you the big winner here is Tom DeLay, the House Majority Leader. He was involved early. He was involved often. He was involved in the final few days of the session where he redistricted the entire map going back and forth from the House and the Senate chamber. He wins. He will likely win these extra seats and that's good for him.
The winner is the White House. Carl Rover, the political director for the president, was very interested, talked with some members of the Texas Senate and the governor on frequent occasions and wanted to be sure that the president has many, many more House members from Texas who will represent his views.
The loser here frankly are the Democrats who find themselves for the first time in a century with, as you said, not a single institution of elected office, not the legislature, not state-wide offices, not the governor, not the U.S. Senate and now not the members of Congress.
LIN: So you think this is going to hold up in the courts?
SLATER: It's anybody's guess. Basically what's going to happen is Democrats will challenge this and what they'll say is that the final map as reconfigured is radical in the sense that it has disenfranchised over a million Black and Hispanic voters in Texas.
If federal judges buy that argument, and it's an elaborate argument to be made, then in fact we may run next year with the current districts but if, in fact, these Republican judges, which ultimately could go to the U.S. Supreme Court rule that no the map is fair and honest and judges by and large like not to get involved in redistricting fights, then this map very likely will hold up.
LIN: Well, we'll see what happens. Thank you very much Wayne Slater, author of...
SLATER: Good to be with you.
LIN: I love your title "Bush's Brain." All right, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
