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Daniel Garza @danielggarza - Why Am I the Wrong Kind of Hispanic?​ In Washington state, racial gerrymandering turns out to be purely a partisan matter.
"The Supreme Court hears oral arguments Wednesday in Louisiana v. Callais, a case challenging the practice of redistricting legislative districts by race. Racial gerrymandering is supposed to ensure minority voting rights. Here in Washington state, Democrats have weaponized it against the Hispanic population to enhance their own power at the expense of a majority Latino electorate.
In 2021 the state’s bipartisan Redistricting Commission drew state legislative maps. The Commission is split evenly—two Democratic and two Republican voting members—and has been called the best redistricting model in the country. The commission drew a map for an Eastern Washington district, which was 73% Hispanic with a Hispanic majority of the eligible voters. The district leaned Republican.
Democrats sued in 2022, claiming the district “cracked” the Latino vote in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In November of 2022, I became the first Hispanic state senator ever elected in the conservative, rural eastern half of Washington.
A Democrat-appointed federal judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and accepted new Democrat-drawn maps, which decreased the Hispanic population in the district. The judge stated that the reduction of the Hispanic vote was necessary for Hispanic voters to “elect candidates of their choice to the state legislature.”
So while Hispanic voters chose me, I wasn’t the right kind of Hispanic according to Democrats. Why not? My parents were both born in Mexico. They met in America and wanted their kids to achieve the American dream. We worked hard as a family picking eastern Washington crops: cherries, apples, plums, grapes. I unexpectedly became a single mother at 16. But I worked hard to get my GED. I then became the first in my family to earn a college degree, and then an M.B.A.
So, why wasn’t I the right kind of Hispanic for Democrats? Because I am a Republican. Democrats in Washington didn’t use race in redistricting to help our community. They used race to help themselves. They and a federal judge reduced Hispanic numbers in my district to increase Democratic numbers. The redrawn district went from a 1.8-point Republican margin to 12-point Democratic one.
And the first Eastern Washington Latina senator? They made sure to draw me out of the district. They put me as far away from the Latino population center of the district as they could get me. I will have to move my family to run again next year.
I prefer that the Supreme Court rule that the use of race to redistrict violates the Constitution. Our communities can speak for themselves when it comes to deciding who represents them. And when the Voting Rights Act is used to reduce Hispanic numbers in a district and to disenfranchise a sitting Hispanic legislator for not being from the right party, we know that the law is being abused for raw political power.
My Latino constituents and I are counting on the Supreme Court to right an egregious wrong."
Nikki Torres, a Republican, is a senator from Washington state’s 15th Legislative District.
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Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh
JUST IN: DEI Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Jackson is LOSING IT because she knows the race-based VRA Congressional districts are about to be abolished
She is YELLING at the counsel and is clueless as to how the VRA processed even worked in Louisiana.