Houston-area pastor sends letter to Gov. Abbott ahead of redistricting: 'This is more personal'

Long before the Voting Rights Act of 1965, New Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church was a voice in Houston's Fifth Ward. That hasn't changed with Texas Governor Greg Abbott directing the legislature to redraw the state's congressional districts, with a focus on three minority-majority districts in the Houston area.

Pastor Charles Turner penned a letter to the governor in which he writes changing the lines could "weaken the political voice and representation" of African American and Hispanic communities, and he "ask(s) that you stand against any...plans that...marginalize these communities."

"This is a serious matter, and we wanted the governor to know that everyone's not in favor of this proposal," he told ABC13. "When you're silent and you don't say anything, then sometimes people think you're in agreement with it. Silence looks like complicity."

Turner is also calling on other faith leaders to send the letter, and he's asked his 600 congregants to do the same.

Josh Blackman is a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law. He says Texas' map creates a challenging legal question for the courts. The Western District in El Paso wrote this week that it won't consider new testimony in a lawsuit over the current map until the end of the special session, contending the lines might not even be redrawn. And it's possible that any lawsuit might get thrown out.

"It's always been the case that you've had voting rights suits brought by private groups and the government," Blackman said. "But there's an argument passed by some courts that only the governments can bring these suits. If that's the case, then the entire case goes away because the Trump administration won't back this dispute."

The DOJ sent a letter to Texas earlier this month specifically contending that three districts in the Houston area: 9, 18, and 29 are illegally drawn along racial lines, which is the reason the districts were created in the first place.

"If you would have asked the attorney general last year," Blackman said, "he would have told you these were drawn not by race but to promote republican voters. That's the line that's been used for many years. But now, the Trump Administration says these are drawn by race but in a bad way."

Pastor Turner has trouble reconciling that argument. "The fact that they're trying to undo that and try to use a similar argument in a reverse kind of way suggests that this is more personal," he said.

There is no guarantee the legislature will decide on new lines. And if so, they may or may not be in effect before the midterms. Nonetheless, Pastor Turner wants Austin to know how his community feels.

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