Gerrymeandering along I 35

Notes from Bee Safe Storage and Wine Cellar

The Interstate from Dallas to Austin was designed in the early 50’s to go through Taylor, the cotton capital of the region. Taylor didn’t want it, opting to lobby for beefed up roads direct to Austin.

Round Rock got it. They wanted it. A bedroom community to Austin became the second fastest growing city in the country, a perennial winner of the top spots to live, with highly rated schools and the headquarters of Dell Computers.

Sitting by the pool at the hotel next to the Bee Safe Storage and Wine Cellar, with the early commuter traffic humming behind me on I 35, I’m trying to sort out the greater Austin Congressional map. Think of balloon animals. The Texas legislature blows through a straw and bubbles sprout up east and west of Austin. And somewhere Elbridge Gerry blushes. The result is the residents of greater Austin might be represented by one of a half dozen members of Congress; two Democrats or four Republicans. For comparison, Boston proper has two congressional districts.

Michael McCaul’s district bulges to the west and east are connected by a thin string that cuts through Round Rock, where the Democrats live. Travis County, home to Austin, votes Democratic by a margin of over 40%. But the Republicans own the re-districting crayons and have managed to draw red lifelines through Blue Austin.

Pete Session’s district, just to the north has a bulge that bleeds past Houston and threatens the Louisiana border. The result is that other than the two Democratic districts, residents of Austin in the other four make up between 8 and 27% of the district population. Hardly worth paying attention to.

Texas votes early. In 2020 almost 80% cast an early ballot. Every city boasts a variety pack of local election signs. Races for congress tend to get nationalized. It’s hard to know your member of congress here. It’s hard to even know who your member of congress is here, given the districts. And in one of the fastest growing regions in the country all politics being local makes some sense.

It’s prosperous, but rain is precious, and rapid expansion taxes limited resources.

The creek next to the hotel was dry yesterday.

Round Rock won the highway lottery and the, I have to say it, quaint, downtown is designed for the weekends; bars and restaurants and a touch of history away from the standard highway chains. The bartender wears her support of the Astro’s proudly and there is music bingo at Finley’s.

But what of Taylor? Tumbleweeds? We will set out tomorrow to see how the left behind have fared.