Today at Democracy Docket, we’re publishing a package on a story you likely haven’t heard a lot about from the national media. The Republicans who run Tarrant County, Texas, have passed a new gerrymandered district map with the aim of further increasing their power at the expense of the county’s Black and brown voters.

Wednesday, June 4

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Today at Democracy Docket, we published a story you likely haven’t heard a lot about from the national media. The Republicans who run Tarrant County, Texas, have passed a new gerrymandered district map with the aim of further increasing their power at the expense of the county’s Black and brown voters. To carry out their scheme, they turned to some powerful players in the national GOP’s anti-democracy movement — including the party's top map-drawer and the anti-voting attorney who, Democracy Docket reported exclusively ([link removed] ) last week, was just put in charge of voting cases at the Department of Justice.

We have two pieces on the Tarrant County gerrymander. First, a deeply-reported news story by Democracy Docket reporter Jen Rice, who recently joined us to cover state voting and democracy issues. Second, a defiant and powerful op-ed by Tarrant County Commissioner Roderick Miles Jr., who represents many of the minority voters being targeted.

Together, these pieces offer a fascinating window into the tactics of those looking to undermine democracy, and the impact on ordinary Americans. We believe stories like these — which hold those in power accountable and connect the dots in ways other outlets often won't — are what makes Democracy Docket's coverage so vital in this moment. As we continue building out our newsroom, support from readers allows us to invest in this kind of high quality, timely, and hard-hitting stories. Consider powering our work today. ([link removed] )

— Zachary Roth, Managing Editor



Top GOP Map-Drawer and Right-Wing Law Firm Team Up to Target Texas Minority Voters

By Jen Rice, Reporter, Democracy Docket

The Republicans who run one of Texas’ biggest counties have recruited the national GOP’s top map-drawer, as well as a leading Washington, D.C.-based anti-voting group, to ram through a new gerrymander that aims to expand their majority.

The effort — finalized yesterday in a 3-2 party-line vote by county leadership — has spurred furious opposition from local minority communities whose right to fair representation is at risk.

It underscores how the GOP’s sweeping national strategy to use map-drawing to boost the party’s power at the expense of non-white voters is now playing out at the local level.

And, highlighting how the effort has leveraged some of the most powerful and well-connected figures in the conservative anti-democracy movement, the Washington, D.C.-based attorney who oversaw much of the redistricting process took over last month as the top voting lawyer at the U.S. Justice Department.

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We Will Not Be Drawn Out: The Fight for Fair Maps in Tarrant County, Texas

By Roderick Miles, Jr., Tarrant County Commissioner

In Fort Worth’s historic Lake Como neighborhood, a wall once stood. Not a metaphor, but a literal wall, built to divide Black families from the rest of the city. Today, that wall is gone, but its legacy lives on. It is now reinforced not by concrete, but by the lines of a conservative gerrymander that threatens to once again isolate and disenfranchise a community.

Tarrant County, Texas, is one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States. It is diverse, dynamic, and increasingly reflective of our nation’s future. Yet the response from those in power has not been to embrace this change but to resist it. The conservatives who run the county are redrawing maps not in the spirit of fairness but in the pursuit of control. What is happening in Tarrant County is not just a local issue. It is a warning to the nation.

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