Texas House of Representatives selects redistricting committee members

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives announced the formation of a House Select Committee to tackle congressional redistricting during the ongoing special called session of the Texas Legislature.

The committee has under a month to agree on a redrawn map of congressional districts, in order to meet one of Texas Governor Greg Abbott's goals for the session. It's also a request from President Donald Trump, who asked the Texas GOP to redraw its map in order to gain the Republican Party five congressional seats.

According to Burrows' announcement, the committee will be led by Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton, as chair and Rep. Jon Rosenthal, R-Houston, as vice-chair. In terms of party affiliation, the committee includes 11 other Republican members and eight Democratic members.

Republicans on the committee include Reps. Charlie Geren, Ryan Guillen, Cole Hefner, Hillary Hickland, Todd Hunter, Will Metcalf, John McQueeney, Katrina Pierson, David Spiller, Carl Tepper and Terry Wilson.

Democrats on the committee include Reps. Josey Garcia, Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, Christian Manuel, Joe Moody, Senfronia Thompson, Chris Turner and Gene Wu.

Wu previously spoke with Nexstar about redistricting.

“Anytime you hear them talk about redistricting, especially if it’s in the middle of the cycle, all this is about political games and trying to destroy our democracy,” Wu said.

In a joint statement with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Burrows spoke to concerns about fairness.

“Texans place their trust in the Legislature to uphold fairness in the redistricting process, and we will continue to work closely together to fulfill this legislative responsibility,” Burrows said.

At time of writing, the committee does not yet have any scheduled meetings listed online.