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How the 87th Texas Legislature will impact Nueces County

Texas has grown faster than most other states over the last decade, adding close to four million people since 2010.

NUECES COUNTY, Texas — The 87th Texas Legislature is off to a busy start. This is the year lawmakers are expected to take on the complicated and contentious process of redistricting — or redrawing the maps for the state's congressional, and legislative boundaries. It happens every 10 years based on the census figures.

As has been the case for the two re-districting cycles, Republicans will control that process in 2021. But the mapmaking will be complicated and challenging, given the state's recent demographic shifts with more than four million new residents since 2010 calling Texas home. 

Also, the inevitable legal battles. Texas' long history of voter suppression and the fact that it'll be happening in the middle of a pandemic is sure to end up in the courts as was the case in 2010. 

Every 10 years, a US Census is conducted to count every resident in the country. After that, state and local governments use the new population data to draw new congressional and state legislative maps.

The point is to draw roughly equally populated districts to reflect population growth and guarantee equal voter representation. But that hasn't been the case in the last two redistricting cycles.

The Texas Legislature has a fixed number of seats: 31 in the senate and 150 in the house. Texas has grown faster than most other states over the last decade, adding close to four million people since 2010.

That means the state's allotted US House seats will likely grow to 38 or 39 up from the 36 current seats.

We asked Political Analyst Dr. Bill Chriss what this could mean for us in the Coastal Bend:

"Because you've had an increase population in the valley and that increase population in the valley is going is gonna mean that the valley districts that are currently represented by Filemon Vela and [Vicente] Gonzalez are going to have shrink relative to other districts and that's going to move to our district further south so that Nueces County is more likely to have more influence."

For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.

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