Inside the Central Texas Congressional Map
What's going on in the districts surrounding Austin?
By Mike Clark-Madison, Fri., Feb. 4, 2022
The 2022 version of the Central Texas congressional map – which was mostly drawn by the incumbent GOP members of the Texas delegation – is still hella gerrymandered, but in a much kinder way to the city of Austin, which will have at least one and likely two members of the U.S. House of Representatives to call its own: the new TX-37, where Lloyd Doggett is seeking his 15th term in Congress, and TX-35, which is now dominated by Travis and Hays County voters. What about these other districts?
• TX-10: Rep. Michael McCaul, R-West Lake Hills, could have stood for reelection in his newly configured, much more R-friendly district (he traded his Austin and Houston boxes for College Station) without actually living in it, but he's a purist. So we have this awesome chicken neck, at one point in Pflugerville about two blocks wide, connecting his Western Travis County stomping grounds with the rest of his district. He's unopposed in the GOP primary and will be heavily favored over Linda Nuno, unopposed in the Dem primary, come November.
• TX-17: This was the district where Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco (but really Dallas), made his comeback two years ago after losing his old seat to Colin Allred in 2018. He's got a big chunk of Pflugerville and Round Rock in a district that stretches all the way east to Nacogdoches. He has several primary opponents, including a dude named "Storm Chaser" Nelson; Mary Jo Woods is unopposed in the Dem primary.
• TX-21: Rep. Chip Roy, R-Dripping Springs, likes to talk trash about how he welcomes Austin voters' hatred, but his new district barely touches the city as it encompasses the Hill Country from his hometown out to Kerrville and down to the richest parts of San Antonio. Lively primaries on both sides despite the fact Roy is almost guaranteed reelection; activist Claudia Zapata (who originally intended to run against Doggett) and Coy Gee Branscum lead the Dem field, while MAGAnational Michael French aims to run on Roy's right (the incumbent refused to play ball on Jan. 6, a rare moment of heresy from the rising right-wing star).
• TX-27: Bastrop and Caldwell are now, and will likely continue to be, represented by Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, though he has many primary challengers, including Jackson County Sheriff A.J. Louderback, a Fox News favorite. Former Corpus Christi TV meteorologist Maclovio Perez leads the Dem field.
• TX-31: Rep. John Carter of Mars, R-Round Rock, gave up all the blue boxes in Williamson County as well as purplish Killeen (but not Fort Hood itself) to make himself bulletproof. It worked – no Democrat filed for the seat – but he still has primary challengers Mike Williams, a former Austin firefighter and old-school Tea Partyer, and Abhiram Garapati (whose signs are omnipresent across the district) to get through.
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