From the NYT, an insider's account of conflict over where to draw state senate district lines:
Twenty years ago, a young state representative from Big Spring — a Republican in a Texas House then dominated by Democrats — found himself, via redistricting, in a race against a veteran Democrat.
The Democrat, David Counts, was a committee chairman and a member of the leadership, and the district was drawn in a way that favored him and put the Republican in the shadows.
Facing certain electoral death in the House contest, Troy Fraser decided to run instead for the State Senate. He lost and went home.
Mr. Fraser now lives in Horseshoe Bay, in Central Texas. He’s still a Republican, but now he’s a state senator, a seat he won four years after that 1992 loss. He’s a committee chairman and a member of the leadership. But he’s in another redistricting battle — this time with another Republican and based more on what part of the state is shrinking than on politics.
This time, it’s all about Abilene. It’s the secret to Mr. Fraser’s political strength in his largely rural district, but it’s also a logical remedy to the shortage of population in an adjoining district represented by Senator Robert L. Duncan, Republican of Lubbock.
