WHEREAS, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ en banc decision in Petteway v. Galveston County ended decades of misuse of the Voting Rights Act, which forced legislators to draw political multi-racial “coalition” districts in favor of Democrats first; and

WHEREAS, a “coalition” district is one without any single compact and cohesive minority voting group who could form a majority of the district, but rather is one in which multiple sub-majority minority groups are combined; and

WHEREAS, redistricting for federal, state, and local elections based on the 2020 Census and the law before the Petteway decision therefore favored Democrats in a way that is no longer required under the Voting Rights Act and likely constituted impermissible racial gerrymandering; now

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that election maps drawn based on 2020 or earlier census data should be revisited to comply with the Voting Rights Act and the Petteway decision to more accurately reflect the political makeup, preferences, and priorities of states and local communities, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas encourages our Legislature to revisit election maps previously drawn so that our election maps are consistent with federal law under the Voting Rights Act and the Petteway decision; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Petteway v. Galveston County resonates far beyond Galveston County, setting a new precedent for redistricting at all levels of governance across Texas, and that the ruling provides counties, municipalities, and state officials with the tools to create fair, legally defensible district maps free from the partisan distortions of coalition claims.