State's witness says white voters made difference in Davis' 2008 election

By Maria Recio

mrecio@mcclatchydc.com

Editor's note: This report has been corrected to reflect that John Alford, an expert witness for Texas in its redistricting case, believes that the Legislature-approved Texas Senate map was not drawn to reduce minority voting strength and that it improves minority voter opportunity. His position was misstated in the original version.

WASHINGTON -- Anglo voters propelled Fort Worth Democrat Wendy Davis to victory in a 2008 state Senate race, not minority voters, a key state witness testified Wednesday before a federal three-judge panel considering Texas redistricting plans.

The state's expert witness, John Alford of Rice University, was on the stand to defend the districts drawn by the Texas Legislature for the Texas House, Texas Senate and U.S. House.

During questioning by Davis' attorney -- who maintains that Davis' Tarrant County-based District 10 was carved up to keep blacks and Hispanics from voting for a candidate they prefer -- Alford said that it was Anglo voters who gave her the win over a Republican incumbent.

"The deciding factor there was not the degree of change in voting by minorities," Alford said. "It was clear that the deciding factor of what caused that to be a victory was the much higher level of Anglo crossover. The district is a majority Anglo district ... about a 63 percent majority Anglo district."

Alford said in an interview that according to racial voting patterns, "Anglos who vote Democratic in Texas are considered crossover voters." In Tarrant County, he said, about 80 percent of Anglos vote Republican.

"The big change in Wendy Davis' election was that the Anglos crossed over. Because there were so many more Anglos, she was elected on the basis of the Anglo crossover," he said.

Retrogression is at the heart of the case that Davis and others are making: that the Republican-dominated Legislature drew some districts to reduce minority voting strength.

The Justice Department, the primary defendant in the case, is not including the Texas Senate map in its defense; Davis and her supporters are making the case.

Alford, who testified for congressional Democrats in a previous redistricting case, said that District 10 was not a minority-opportunity district. "I think here that this is an example that in the general election this is an effort of where there is a cohesion of Democratic voters, Hispanic, black and Anglo to elect a candidate of choice in that district," he said.

Asked by Davis attorney Gerry Hebert whether the voting strength of black and Hispanic voters would be "diminished" under a different electoral map, Alford said, "I couldn't agree with you more."

In comments to a reporter outside the courtroom, Hebert said that he took Alford's answer to mean that he was conceding that the new map was a retrogression.

But the Rice University expert's testimony centered on the majority Republican Anglo characteristic of District 10, which had never voted for a Democrat until Davis' election. In written testimony that is part of the court record, Alford said that in his analysis, "the adopted Senate plan does not retrogress, and in fact improves minority voter opportunity."

Specifically of District 10, Alford said that "even if Blacks, Hispanics and Others were all voting cohesively they would still not constitute a majority in the district."

"You can't retrogress a district that didn't have the ability to control the outcome of the election in the first place," Alford told the Star-Telegram. "That is not protected under the Voting Rights Act."

In another aspect of the case -- whether there was an intent to discriminate -- presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer took a hard line questioning a central figure in the case, Gerardo Interiano, the counsel to the Texas House put in charge of redistricting by Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.

Interiano was on the stand last week and was called back to elaborate on mapping techniques and software he used in drawing maps.

"Texas told us their case rises and falls on your credibility," Collyer said. "I find it hard to believe that the staff made decisions without input from Speaker Straus or Mr. Solomons."

Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, was chairman of the Texas House redistricting committee and testified in the hearing last week.

When Interiano replied that "the public" might be surprised at how much leeway the staff has, Collyer replied, "I am not the public."

The judge appeared frustrated with Interiano and said: "You don't tell us anything about how you decided anything. I would think the politicians would want to know."

Interiano said that the members often got together and worked out maps with the directive to "protect every member in the state House."

Maria Recio is the Star-Telegram's Washington bureau chief. 202-383-6103

Twitter: @maria_e_recio

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