Texas Border Business
Texas Border Business
Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-34) announced today that he led the Texas Democratic Congressional Delegation in sending a formal letter to Texas House Redistricting Committee Chairman Cody Vasut and Texas Senate Committee on Congressional Redistricting Chairman Phil King. The letter urges both committees to hold a field hearing in the Rio Grande Valley as part of the state’s public redistricting process.
“The fact that neither the House nor the Senate Redistricting Committees have announced public hearings in the Rio Grande Valley is a disgrace,” said Congressman Gonzalez. “The Governor and his cronies love to use our region as a backdrop for their political theatre and invoke their gains with Latino voters in our region, yet they have no interest in listening to the perspectives of the hardworking, honest citizens that make up the Valley.”
The request comes amid preparations by the Texas Legislature to redraw congressional district boundaries. Gonzalez and his Democratic colleagues argue that the Rio Grande Valley—one of the fastest-growing and most demographically diverse regions in Texas—deserves equal opportunity to participate in the process.
“Our region is just as important as urban areas in Houston, Dallas, and Austin, and we, too, have a stake,” Gonzalez stated. “Chairman King and Chairman Vasut, schedule a field hearing in the Valley — we deserve to be heard.”
The letter highlights concern that excluding the Rio Grande Valley from the hearing schedule would undermine the fairness and transparency of the redistricting effort.
Read the full letter here.
