CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The new congressional redistricting map in Texas has altered district boundaries in Nueces County.
KRIS 6 News spoke with Dr. Paul Gottemoller, professor of political science at Del Mar College, to break down what redistricting is. He explains that there are different goals you can try to achieve with redistricting.
“You can either try to maximize competition. You can try to maximize the number of minority districts in order to ensure that minority people from minority communities are elected to represent those areas,” Dr. Gottemoller said.
Dr. Gottemoller said Texas engaged in partisan gerrymandering to gain an advantage and minimize the number of democratic districts.
“Moving into Nueces County, which voted for Republicans in 2024, was done in order to make it so that that district would become a safe Republican district,” Dr. Gottemoller said.
In the newly redrawn congressional map, part of Nueces County moved into the 34th district. That district is currently represented by democratic congressman Vicente Gonzalez. He told KRIS 6 he was also redistricted in 2021.
“I had a 75% new district and now they've given me about a 35 or 40% new district, but if you start off looking at the map when I very first got elected, I'm in a 100% different map.” Congressman Gonzalez said.
So, where does this leave our community?
If you take a look at the new map, if you are near Downtown Corpus Christi (such as the KRIS 6 station), you would still be in the 27th district.
But, if you are to go to the Southside, you would be part of the 34th district. The district now goes all the way down to Cameron County.
According to DataUSA in 2023, Hispanics made up just over 62% of Nueces County. This could mean Hispanic voters may have a major influence in the 34th District.
“A lot of people have confidence, especially the Republican Party believe that after the last election that a lot of Latinos or Hispanics are turning Republican. I don't necessarily believe that,” Congressman Gonzalez said.
Dr. Gottemoller explained that Hispanic voters have historically been more likely to vote for democratic candidates.
However, things changed in the 2024 presidential election.
The professor pointed out that Hispanic voters tend to be low propensity voters and are less likely to show up for mid-term elections.
“You still have a lot of support for the Democratic Party within the Hispanic community, as well as a growing support for Republicans within the Hispanic community,” Dr. Gottemoller said.
Governor Greg Abbott signed this new congressional map back in August. It is being challenged by LULAC and other groups.
It is currently in the federal court, where judges will make a ruling.
So far, state officials have denied looking at race when they passed the map.
The newly redrawn congressional map is not expected to come into play until the 2026 midterms.
