West Texas / Panhandle Will Lose Seats

At first glance it seemed like good news for West Texas and the Panhandle. The area, according to preliminary growth maps, had gained about 4% in population. This was a good sign in an area that has seen at least two dozen counties lose population for the last half-century. But it turns out that the news was not good enough.

That's because that 4% growth in population in the last decade was dwarfed by growth in other areas of Texas. The I-35 corridor, from Grayson county in the north to Zapata county in the south, has grown in population by an astounding 57%. In addition, the area from Brownsville up through East Texas has grown by at least 39%.

Of course the final figures from the United States Census Department has not been released yet, but there is little reason to believe they will be much different from those preliminary figures. There is no doubt that the area will lose some representation in the Texas legislature as the redistricting process takes place. And the area could lose some representation in the U.S. Congress (unless the 3 or 4 new Congressional seats Texas will get can prevent that).

This means that a fairly large area of the state that already had very little voice in state affairs will now have even less of a voice in what happens in the state. I can understand that political representation needs to be apportioned by population, but to those who live in West Texas and the Panhandle it certainly doesn't feel fair.

(The above map shows the population density of Texas in the year 2000.)