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A federal court has ruled that the redistricting passed by Texas Republicans – a map that was set to eliminate one of Travis County’s two Democratic-held seats – cannot be used in next year’s midterm elections. The ruling was quickly appealed by Gov. Greg Abbott. We’ll get the latest from The Texas Newsroom.
The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:09] A federal court ruled this week that a map passed by Texas Republicans cannot be used in next year’s midterm elections. That map was set to eliminate one of Travis County’s two Democratic-held seats. We’re going to hear more from the Texas newsroom’s capital reporter about the fallout following yesterday’s ruling, and we’ll hear from Congressman Lloyd Doggett, who plans to run for re-election following that ruling from the federal court. Plus, some folks out there may be feeling property tax fatigue. Austin voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition Q. Now, Travis County Commissioners are being sued for a tax increase. We’ve got that story. Stay tuned.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:46] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:51] And rain chances are ramping up for the Austin area, pack your umbrella, join us, we’ve got more on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, thank you for joining us on Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Kehannel. This is listener powered public radio, KUT News 90.5 on the KUT app and online at KUT.org. Wednesday, November 19th, thank you making us a part of your day. A quick couple of headlines before today’s show. Austin City Council members are working to finalize a city budget and they have to find ways to cut. After voters resoundingly rejected a proposed tax rate increase that would have generated more than $100 million. At a meeting yesterday, city council members shared some of their funding priorities. Those include emergency medical services, shelter for people experiencing homelessness, and wildfire mitigation. The city council is set to adopt a new budget by the end of this week. And much of central Texas will be under a flood watch from late tonight through early Friday morning that includes Burnett, Comal, Hayes, Kerr, Travis, and Williamson counties. The National Weather Service says locally heavy rainfall could lead to some flash flooding. We could see one to three inches of rain with some isolated spots getting up to six inches. We’re gonna have more about the forecast coming up in the show. And as always, you can keep up with the latest news over at KUT.org and on the KUT app. A three-judge panel placed a temporary block Tuesday on the congressional map that Texas Republican lawmakers passed over the summer. That map passed at the behest of President Trump was ruled by the panel to be racially gerrymandering, excuse me. The Texas newsroom’s capital reporter Blaise Ganey is joining us on the phone now to tell us more. Howdy, Blaise.
Blaise Gainey [00:02:51] Hey, how’s it going?
Jerry Quijano [00:02:52] It’s going okay. Glad you’re here with us. So, this ruling came down yesterday right about now. First, can you give us a little bit more about the reasoning? What reasoning did the three-judge panel give for blocking the map?
Blaise Gainey [00:03:04] Yeah, I mean, they essentially just adopted what the plaintiffs were saying in this case, which was that these this map was drawn with racial bias and it was racially discriminatory. They pointed out actual portions of the map where they noticed, you know, democratic areas were targeted, specifically dominated by African Americans and Latinos, Hispanics, In that they did not Republicans did not target the Democratic areas that were dominated by white individuals.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:38] So like I said, this ruling has been about 24 hours since this ruling was issued. What has been the general reaction to the news? Were people here in Texas expecting this decision?
Blaise Gainey [00:03:47] No, I think this actually shocked a lot of people. I think most people, and I say that because most people told the state that they did not want them to redraw the congressional districts. So, you know, about 98% I believe told of those who did said they didn’t want them to redrew all the districts. So I think a lot Texas are happy, a little surprised, but also now that it has been appealed, I think people are sort of holding their breath with what may be next to come.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:17] Yeah, you mentioned that appeal that came from Texas Republicans. How did they respond? Can you tell us more about that appeal?
Blaise Gainey [00:04:24] Yeah, I mean, they essentially just said that, you know, the ruling is wrong and that they want the Supreme Court to reverse the ruling and allow them to use the new map, the 2025 map instead of the old 2021 map that we’ve used in the past two elections.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:42] And this is a temporary block that was issued by this three judge panel. And as you mentioned, there has already been an appeal. How soon might we expect some movements on that appeal?
Blaise Gainey [00:04:54] Well, you know, that’s, I think, what a lot of people are wondering. Um, December 8th is the deadline to file. The court obviously has enough power to move that deadline back, but the hope is that they can get something out as quick as possible. Um, so that, you, know, candidates can make their filings and whatnot, and choose which district they will run in, uh, as you know Al Green was, you know going to run into the 18th district on the new map hill. Go back to running in the ninth. But if a Supreme Court decision comes down allowing the 2025 map, he’ll be returning and running back in the 18th district. So a lot of things are up in the air right now.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:37] Yeah, you mentioned Al Green. Here in Austin, here in the Austin area, the new map was set to have an impact. We’re gonna lose one, or two congressional Democratic-held seats right now. That was gonna be going back to one, correct?
Blaise Gainey [00:05:51] That’s correct, yeah. So you had Greg Kazar, a congressman, and also Lloyd Doggett, and Kazar was actually gonna, and I may be pronouncing that wrong, but Kazar is gonna continue to take over the district, the one district, and Lloyd Doggott was gonna retire yesterday after the ruling. He announced that he will actually, he’s been revived essentially, and will come back and run in his district Um, since you know, the district remains for now.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:21] Yeah, for now. You mentioned that December 8th deadline. Is that kind of the next step? What are we expecting next in this continuing battle?
Blaise Gainey [00:06:29] Yeah, we’re sort of just waiting once again for a ruling now from the United States Supreme Court, Supreme Court of the United states to either say yes, the court can go ahead and stay the map and we move forward with the old map or to say no, the courts got it all wrong and this is partisan gerrymandering, which is legal and they can go ahead and use the 2025 map. That’ll be the next ruling.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:57] Alright, that is Blaise Ganey, he is the Capital Reporter for the Texas Newsroom. You can find his reporting at KUT.org. Blaise, thank you. Thanks for having me. And Blaise mentioned longtime Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett. We reached out to the Austin representative yesterday after he’d had some time to process the ruling. Here’s some of his reaction to the news.
Lloyd Doggett [00:07:23] Well, I’m really encouraged by it. This is really good news for Austin and especially the university community. Uh, what a incredible map, uh, the Trump Abbott combinations that connected the downtown area of Austin, uh city hall and the courthouse, not with the university of Texas campus a few blocks away, but with Texas A&M that denied, uh probably to half of our delegation of African American members. Representation here in Congress and would have people in Travis County, some of them represented from San Angelo, from Victoria and Waco, but without two representatives, myself and Congressman Casar, that we have today. Now I’ll be able to run in my district, he and his. We hope this decision holds and that we have that opportunity. Austin will certainly be the better if both of us are able to serve and work together here.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:22] In your announcement on Tuesday, you invoked Mark Twain saying reports of your death have been greatly exaggerated. It made me think a little bit about George Bailey as well and It’s a Wonderful Life. He gets this chance to see what life would have been like without him and how things would change. How excited are you at the prospect of getting back to work for the people of and for the people who you represent.
Lloyd Doggett [00:08:48] Well, I really never stopped working. I was at four or five events this past weekend in Austin. I like being out and visiting with people in different neighborhoods and learning about the latest developments in my hometown and finding ways that I can be helpful. But yes, I’m excited about the prospect of applying for a job to represent Central Texas for one more term. And that’s really what this is all about. It’s a job application where. The voters get to evaluate my performance and decide whether they want to keep me for another two years doing the kind of work I’ve done in the past.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:26] This redistricting battle obviously started here in Texas, but it’s lit a fire that has spread across the country, both in state legislatures and in city streets across the county. What have you seen from Texans and Americans responding to this attempt to redistrict a lot of their congressional districts without their voice or approval?
Lloyd Doggett [00:09:44] Well, you know, I’ve been involved in just about every major rally and protest we’ve had in Austin since the beginning of the year, and I’m really encouraged that our events have grown. When people ask me about hope, the hope is shown in the number of people that are standing up and saying that they’re going to push back against Trump’s attempts to become really a total dictator with no restraint. And so I remain hopeful that we will continue to progress in that direction. And I think none of us, certainly not me, thought that at the beginning of this year, or even as late as early July, that Trump would use this tactic of trying to redraw the lines in order to control the House in the midterm elections. But that’s exactly what he’s done. And now it’s backfiring on him with a decision that a Trump appointee as a federal judge in a 160 page opinion condemned the effort. Not as a partisan effort, but as a racial effort to discriminate against people of color and reduce their representation in Congress. I’m concerned about how this has spread to other states. My good friend, Emanuel Cleaver, an African American who is the mayor of Kansas City, a very successful one, he’s had this happen to him where they’ve come in and split Kansas City in three ways in order to try to eliminate him from Congress. Much the same thing has happened in North Carolina, and in Ohio, there’s also been gerrymandering. So I think it’s important that California tried to balance this out. But the real balance that would benefit every state and every voter is if we had nonpartisan redistricting. It just can’t be in a few states that are democratic controlled. It needs to be nationwide. We had a proposal to do that when Speaker Pelosi was our speaker. We couldn’t get it passed in the Senate, but I hope that this experience will lead more people of all political persuasions to realize that the best representation is that which is organized around communities of interest so that people don’t have to go to San Angelo if they live in Austin in order to get help. We need our representatives to be accessible and thereby to be accountable.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:08] We’ve been hearing a lot about the federal government shutdown over the last two months now that has ended and we saw some election results from other states around the country. What is your message to voters in Texas and across the U.S. Generally as we start to ramp up ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Lloyd Doggett [00:12:26] We need to be sure that everyone is involved, taking a part, doing more than just voting, but getting others to vote. That’s the way to respond to the tyrannical policies of the Trump administration. The result of this is sometimes viewed as just an inside game with politicians fighting over what turf they might be representing, but what’s really at stake in redistricting and what’s really at stake as we go forward. Is healthcare, which we fought this battle unsuccessfully during the shutdown to try to assure that premiums did not soar and people did not access to physicians. It’s women’s healthcare and the terrible decision to limit the reproductive choice available to women. It’s about the climate crisis and how we will respond to an ever-growing crisis. It’s about where we stand in terms of a wide range of pocketbook issues that affect the opportunity for students to get all the education they want and then to have good job opportunities. And it’s certainly about where we stand in the world and whether we will foolishly engage in a conflict in Venezuela and fail at the same time to provide protection for Ukraine against a war criminal. And so there’s so much on this valid redistricting is just the way that Trump can block and achieve his objectives and engagement. Now in preparation for next year is how we should be responding.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:59] Okay, we have been speaking with long-time Austin Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett. He intends to run for re-election after a federal court blocked Texas from using its newly drawn congressional map in next year’s midterm elections. Congressman, thank you for your time.
Lloyd Doggett [00:14:13] Jerry, thanks a lot. See you at home.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:15] And yesterday was a busy news day, you can catch up on anything you might have missed over at KUT.org. This is Austin Signal, we’ll be back in just a moment. Welcome back, this is Austin signal on KUT News. Some folks in the Austin area may be feeling some property tax fatigue, perhaps you are one of them. Earlier this month, voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition Q, a City of Austin tax rate increase. And now, Travis County commissioners are being sued over a 9% property tax rate hike that they approved back in September. KUT’s Katy McAfee has the details on why Travis County raised taxes and what the lawsuit asks for.
Katy McAfee [00:15:00] For this story, we need to go back in time to July. It was going to take weeks to repair all of the damage from this weekend’s deadly flooding. A powerful storm swept through central Texas and flooded the Sandy Creek neighborhood in northwest Travis County. Nearly 200 homes were damaged. Multiple bridges were knocked off their foundation and piles and piles of debris amassed in the area. The storm was expensive for the county. So far, officials have spent over $21 million on cleanup and emergency assistance. And officials say more costs could still be accrued. But lucky for Travis County, both the governor and the president issued emergency declarations for the area after the flood. That allowed the county to take advantage of a section of Texas tax code. It lets local governments raise property taxes by higher than normal without voter approval. Typically, they can’t raise taxes more than 3.5% without going to voters. Travis County commissioners approved the 9% property tax increase in September. It will cost the average homeowner, someone with the home valued around $500,000, an additional $200 on their property tax bill compared to last year. Commissioners estimate it will generate $42 million, enough to pay for flood repairs and prepare the county for future disasters. The county never laid out exactly how this extra money would be spent, but commissioners have thrown out some ideas. Speaking ahead of the vote in September, Commissioner Margaret Gomez said the county should use the money for flood mitigation in Onion Creek, which did not flood in July, but has several times in recent years.
Margaret Gomez [00:16:33] And that way people can rest easy, that they won’t be flooded in the middle of the night and put their families in danger.
Katy McAfee [00:16:42] Commissioner Anne Howard brought up the idea of fixing low water crossings throughout the county. There are still about a hundred miles of substandard roads and so that is another place that we need to examine. But not so fast. Earlier this month a lawsuit was filed against the Travis County Commissioner’s Court over how this extra money would be spent. The plaintiffs are newly elected mayor of Lagovista Shane Saum and former Austin mayoral candidate Jeff Bowen. They are being represented by Bill Elshire, an attorney and former Travis County judge.
Bill Elshire [00:17:15] I call it the fake disaster tax.
Katy McAfee [00:17:17] That’s Elshire. He says the county shouldn’t use the disaster tax exception for anything other than projects directly related to the July Flood.
Bill Elshire [00:17:25] If they wanted to do that, they should have asked the voters for agreement and not tried to misuse this exception for the disaster tax. It is not a provision that they can use to set up a slush fund to use for road improvement.
Katy McAfee [00:17:42] Som, the new mayor of Lagovista, says recent changes to state law will limit how counties can use disaster-related tax revenue. He points to House Bill 30, which goes into effect in January.
Shane Saum [00:17:53] And the legislature is closing what this, what Travis County views as a loophole. On January 1, they wouldn’t have been able to do this. It kind of has the appearance that you are sneaking it in at the midnight hour before this goes away.
Katy McAfee [00:18:04] Travis County leaders did not agree to an interview for this story. In a statement, County spokesperson Hector Nieto said the Commissioner’s Court carefully considered and followed state law when adopting the tax rate. The statement says, quote, We disagree with the allegations made in the lawsuit and look forward to defending our case in a court of law, end quote. The lawsuit asks the court to restrict the county from spending disaster related tax dollars on projects unrelated to the July 5th flood. But it’s unclear how people’s property taxes would be affected if a judge rules in the plaintiff’s favor. Folks at the Travis County Tax Office said they aren’t aware of another case like this one that could provide some clarity. And property tax bills have already been sent out to Travis County residents with the tax increase. Those bills are due January 31st. I’m Katy McAfee in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:00] Thank you for spending part of your Wednesday here with us. This is Austin Signal. We’ve got a chance for some inclement weather headed our way here in Austin and Central Texas over the next few days. Here to tell us more about what we’re expecting is Trey Schaar. He is on editor here at KUT News. Trey, welcome to Austin Signal!
Trey Schaar [00:19:20] Thanks, Jerry. It’s great to be here.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:21] I’m glad you’re here. You know, it really often feels like we need a bunch of rain, we never get it, and then boom, this huge deluge of rain is coming our way. That seems to be the case this week. What are the forecasts showing so far?
Trey Schaar [00:19:34] Well, we’re under a flood watch starting at midnight tonight until all the way until six o’clock Friday morning. And well, you know how sometimes we’ll get a cold front moving through and there’ll be a line of storms that moves in ahead of the front, along the front a squall line. It looks like what they’re worried about in this case is that a front will stall out and we could get training rain that just like just keeps coming usually from south to north. Falling over the same areas. And the weather service is saying most spots are looking at one to three inches, but with isolated totals of six to eight. So that definitely would cause some runoff into creeks, streams, rivers. Even in those smaller rainfall amounts, you could see some low lying areas, low water crossings fill up, minor street flooding. Probably not gonna be catastrophic, but the possibility is there. That’s why they call it a watch.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:32] And that watch is affecting the five counties in our listening area here at KUT News, but it also extends to some parts of the Hill Country, right, that were affected by the earlier flooding this year.
Trey Schaar [00:20:42] Yeah, that’s true. The eastern counties are kind of not in the area of concern, but the hill country is basically the I-35 corridors to the west. And in July, that was a situation not all that similar to this. That was a tropical remnant low that just was a rain bomb and this is almost certainly not going to be that. But there could be some flooding and that’s why they’ve got us under a flood watch.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:11] Speaking of flooding, it always seems to be feast or famine, and we could use that range surely because the drought situation has been worsening. I know we’re expecting an update tomorrow from the drought monitor map, but what has it been? What have you been seeing? I know you follow that every week for KUT News. What have been seeing, and has it been growing worse?
Trey Schaar [00:21:29] It has been getting worse. We got some rain a few weeks ago, but nothing since then. And the map that comes out tomorrow, it’s probably going to show even worse conditions because it will not reflect the rain we’re expecting in the coming days because they collect the data for that map on Tuesday of every week.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:47] Alright, we have been speaking with Trey Schaar. He is an editor here at KUT News. And Trey makes me sound great every single day on All Things Considered. And just in my daily life, so Trey, thank you for that, and thank you appearing on Austin Signal. We appreciate you.
Trey Schaar [00:22:02] It’s an honor. Thanks.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:04] And thank you out there to you for listening to Austin Signal. We are a live radio show every weekday afternoon from 1 to 1 30 here on KUT News. And you can subscribe to us wherever you get your shows. There’s more info about that at KUT.org slash Signal. Thanks to my buddy Trey Schaar here. Thanks to the Texas Newsroom’s Capital Reporter, Blaise Ganey. Thank you to KUT’s Travis County Reporter, Katy McAfee. And to Austin Congressman Lloyd Doggett for talking to us here on Austin Signal. Rayna Sevilla keeps us sounding good. Jimmy Maas has been driving me crazy, but I love him. He’s filling in for managing producer Kristen Cabrera, who should be back with us tomorrow. We’re looking forward to that. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano, and I will talk to you tomorrow same time. Thank you for tuning in.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
