A Guide to the Texas Congressional Redistricting Records, [ca. 2000-2004]

Historical Sketch

Jonas Martin Frost III, an American politician, collected the Texas Congressional Redistricting Records to document a 2003 controversial congressional redistricting plan. Frost, born January 1, 1942, was the Democratic representative to the U.S. House of Representatives for Texas's 24th congressional district from 1979 to 2005.

Frost was one of the targets of a controversial redistricting engineered by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. In 2002, Republicans took control of both houses of the Legislature, winning a majority in the House, heavily aided by the $1.5 million raised by Texans for a Republican Majority, a political action committee founded by DeLay. The new Republican legislature, pressed by DeLay, redrew the congressional map, producing districts that heavily favored Republicans while targeting Democratic incumbents.

In particular, Frost’s district, which included portions of Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington, was redrawn to favor the Republican Party. Frost left his dismantled 24th District and attempted to seek re-election in the newly redrawn 32nd District, which included a considerable amount of territory that he had previously represented, but lost to Republican Pete Sessions.

Source: Barta, Carolyn. "Elections and Politics." Texas Almanac, Texas State Historical Association, 2006-2007.

Scope and Contents

The Texas Congressional Redistricting Records, ca. 2000-2004, contain campaign and redistricting files, including pamphlets, legal files, cases, district data, maps, and voter demographics pertaining to the controversial congressional redistricting plan of 2003, which displaced ten Democratic incumbents and warranted criticism and accusations of gerrymandering. The collection contains material concerning the campaigns of Martin Frost, Mike Rivera Ortega, Regina Montoya Coggins, and filings of Ed Harrison, as well as battleground (swing state) files. Furthermore, the records contain minutes of the meetings of redistricting committees and redistricting maps, data, litigation, and analysis.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

These records are stored remotely. Advance notice required for retrieval. Contact repository for retrieval.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Texas Congressional Redistricting Records, [ca. 2000-2004], Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

Detailed Description of the Papers