Latest news with #BarbaraGervin-Hawkins
Chicago Tribune
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Texas House Democrats join Chicago anti-Trump protest in Loop
Hundreds of protesters gathered at Millennium Park Saturday afternoon to rally against redistricting efforts in Texas that could give Republicans five additional U.S. House seats in next year's midterm elections. They were joined by more than a dozen Texas House Democrats who have stayed in Illinois since Aug. 3 to block the gerrymandering. The legislators urged their supporters across the country to continue opposing the Texas Republicans' efforts. 'Our plan was to wake up the nation,' Texas State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, D-San Antonio, told the crowd. 'Our plan is to fight in the courts. We hope they're fair this time. Our plan is to make sure our messaging gets to you.' The Texas Democrats intend to return to the Lone Star State Monday, according to a Texas House Democrats spokesperson and Texas State Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston. Saturday's protesters directed much of their frustration at President Donald Trump, who has supported Texas Republicans' proposed map. The rally was one of more than 200 similar protests planned across the country, and follows other coordinated anti-Trump events like the No Kings protest in June and Good Trouble Lives On protest in July. 'I think Trump is genuinely eroding away at our basic democratic freedoms, crippling the legal system, attempting to violate separation of powers,' said Sophia Liu, a student at the University of Chicago who attended the protest Saturday. Protesters heard from members of the Texas delegation and local leaders, including U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez and Chicago Federation of Labor secretary and treasurer Don Villar. Then, they marched down Michigan Avenue and Adams Street to Federal Plaza, chanting 'Whose house? Our house' and 'immigrants are here to stay.' Democrats around the country have attacked the Texas gerrymandering plan for its timing, saying redistricting shouldn't happen in the middle of the decade. As the Texas controversy moved further into the national spotlight, several other states have considered upping their own partisan gerrymandering efforts. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, proposed a ballot initiative Thursday to give Democrats five more U.S. House seats, the AP reported. Gov. J.B. Pritzker said earlier this month that though he doesn't want to, he hasn't taken redistricting off the table. Other Republican-controlled states, including Missouri, are also considering, or at least not opposed to, mid-decade partisan redistricting as well. Some protesters were uneasy at the prospect of back-and-forth partisan redistricting. Luke Hopkins, a current graduate student and former U.S. Marine who lives in North Center, said he thinks Texas' redistricting efforts 'are a clear abuse of power' and 'not what democracy is about.' Still, California's response was somewhat 'troubling,' he said shortly after writing 'veterans against Trump' in blue chalk at Federal Plaza. 'You have to fight fire with fire sometimes,' he said. 'I don't think either is very good for democracy overall.' But for Liu, California's pushback is necessary to make sure there's still meaningful opposition to Trump after the midterm elections. 'I can imagine, if another thing like the 'Big Beautiful Bill part two' came out,' it would harm millions of Americans,' she said, referencing the Republican-led federal legislation that heavily cut social services while increasing funding for immigration enforcement. 'And I think that's a greater harm than gerrymandering in the moment.' In the long term, Liu said she would support efforts to end all partisan gerrymandering. But Texas House Democrat leader, State Rep. Gene Wu, said the escalations between Texas, California and other states aren't simply a tit-for-tat political battle. Instead, he said, there was a clear 'attacking' and 'defending' force — comparing the situation to 'Russia invading Ukraine.' 'What California is proposing would only happen if Texas chose to do the wrong thing,' Wu said. With California and other Democratic states' gerrymandering threats in place, Wu said he and his colleagues have a safety net to return to the state, where they are likely to lose the redistricting fight in the Republican-controlled Texas legislature. They look to legally challenge the Republican-drawn maps next, Wu said. 'Our chances in court I think are good,' he said. 'I know we don't trust the courts, but I think this is something that is so racist, so unconstitutional, that the courts cannot look away.'
Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: God does not gerrymander
'What we're fighting for is democracy,' Texas state Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins said Sunday. She didn't say this at a news conference or in a committee hearing or a TV interview. She spoke the words in a Chicago church, with the blessing of Father Michael Pfleger who heads St. Sabina on the South Side of the city. Can a house of worship really serve two masters? Those being God — and overtly partisan politics? The answer, as your Sunday school teacher might have told you, is a firm 'no.' Her appearance raises an old but urgent question: Where is the line between preaching moral truth and campaigning from the pulpit? This one's a little more complicated than a simple 'amen' or 'no way.' Gervin-Hawkins, who fled her home state, was speaking about her efforts to avoid a redistricting push led by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Try as they might to spin this as the great moral issue of our day, mapmaking — at least in this context — is a partisan gambit about political power. This comes as the IRS recently signaled that churches may engage in more overt political speech without risking their tax-exempt status. There are certainly times when the church provides clarity on faith-based principles that shed light on the pressing issues of the day. Pastors are, and should be, able to preach freely about all manner of subjects that could deal with everything from loving our neighbors (no matter which country they come from) to championing peace in times of war. Many Black churches played crucial roles in promoting the rights of Black Americans during the Civil Rights Movement — not by and large by promoting politicians, but by speaking biblical truths — including that all men and women are created equal in the sight of God. But, back to the church-going Texas Democrats. It's worth pointing out that the difference between faith and politics is that while politics is about power, religion is about connecting to a higher power. In other words, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Just as no two people need the same spiritual medicine, so to speak, church members each have unique political perspectives. Churches are supposed to be a safe haven from such naked partisanship — one of the few left in modern American society. God does not write electoral maps. And he does not smite one side messing with our democratic process and ring the bells of heaven for the other. We don't pretend to know the will of the Almighty on salamander-like districts, but we're guessing he is of the view that each side should look to themselves.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas House revives zoning reform bill to lower minimum lot sizes
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Senate Bill 15 — which prevents larger cities from imposing minimum residential lot sizes of 3,000 square feet or larger — appeared to be dead on Sunday. State Rep. Ramon Romero Jr., D-Fort Worth, had called a point of order on the bill, claiming a population bracket improperly restricted a political subdivision. He was correct. 'The bill as reported from committee exempted from its application a location that is, among other things, within 'one mile of a campus of the perimeter of a law enforcement training center in a county that has a population of 2,600,000 or more but less than 2,700,000,' the House journal from Sunday reads. 'The chair notes that the rule permits the use of minimum or maximum population in a bill to limit its application, but not both. Here, the bracket includes only Dallas County. The chair would be required to find a reasonable relationship between the location of a law enforcement training center in Dallas County and the bill's purpose of increasing the housing supply…The chair can find no such relationship.' When a point of order is sustained, the bill must go back to committee to fix the error before going back through the process to reach the House floor. That presented a problem for SB 15, as the bill had to be voted on by Tuesday at midnight, and the bills to be brought up on deadline day had to be cemented on Sunday night. Quickly, legislators got to work to fix the bill in time. At 2:50 p.m., SB 15 was sent back to committee, and by 6:52 p.m. it was in the hands of the calendars committee, who controls the docket of bills for each day. The calendars committee earmarked SB 15 for Tuesday's major state calendar that night, pushing it to the top of docket. Another lawmaker tried to get the bill killed again, saying it was expedited improperly. 'I respectfully raise a point-of-order against further consideration of Senate Bill 15 on the grounds the bill was improperly placed on the major state calendar,' State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, D-San Antonio, said. Items placed on the major state calendar must be of importance to the entire state. Gervin-Hawkins argued this bill shouldn't qualify, because it's application is limited to municipalities with over 150,000 people. After a lengthy delay, her point of order was overruled. 'The bill is a major reform of state land use law and will have major implications for housing and economic activity throughout the state,' State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa, said as he presided over the Speaker's desk. 'Additionally, rule 6, section 25, gives the committee on calendars wide discretion over which calendar it will place a bill on. The point of order is respectfully overruled.' After a pair of amendments, the bill passed a third reading with a 87-48 vote. SB 15 aims to reduce housing prices by improving housing availability. Austin recently changed their minimum lot size for single-family homes from 5,750 square feet to 1,800 square feet. Houston changed their to 1,400 square feet for certain residences within the city center in 1998, expanding it to the whole city in 2013. A Pew study claims this allowed single-family homes to be replaced with townhouses, opening up more affordable housing options. 'We're looking down a very bleak future [if we don't take action],' Nicole Nosek, founder of Texans for Reasonable Solutions, said. 'We're looking at a situation where not only are we not going to be able to have our kids and our grandkids live in the same city that they grew up in, but on top of that — all this flourishing economic activity that we're seeing move to Texas, we jeopardize that by not allowing the middle class to own a piece of the American dream of home ownership.' SB 15 aims to mandate the changes Austin and Houston voluntarily went through. The bill prevents a municipality with over 150,000 people from imposing a minimum lot size less than 3,000 square feet (changed from 1,500 square feet with a floor amendment). While the idea sailed through both the Senate and House committees unanimously, and passed the Senate floor 29-2, there was pushback in the House, particularly from those representing the Dallas-Fort-Worth area. 'I don't want to take away the ability for my city and the people of my city to be able to control the size of the lots and the homes that are put there,' State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, said. 'I own a security company, and I'll tell you that these high-density locations cost hundred of thousands and sometimes a couple million of dollars a year to secure after they've been there 10-20 years because they become crime-ridden.' The opposition was bipartisan. 'Do you believe that residents should be silenced when it comes to your law that is affecting someone's neighborhood? When they bought their home, they moved into a single-family residential area,' Romero said. 'You don't believe that people should have their voice heard?' SB 15 will be heard for a third reading on Wednesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
