I won't bury the lede: The Republicans in charge of redistricting in Texas finally put out a new map on Tuesday:

1. The Redistricting Game Cheat
2. Redistricting Game Mission 2 Walkthrough
3. The Redistricting Game Cheats Mission 16
4. The Redistricting Game Mission 1
5. The Redistricting Game Cheats Mission 2

It's a devilish gerrymander that makes the Illinois map look like a goo-goo wet dream — and very likely runs afoul of the VRA. I suspect the GOP knows this, but wanted to start with as extreme a 'negotiating' position as possible when this heads to court. There's already an extensive discussion of the new map in wwmiv's diary, and I'll also refer you to Greg Wythe's trio of posts (here, here, and here) dissecting the plan. If you want to take a deep dive into the map, click here and go to 'Select Plans' in the menu bar on the top left, then 'Base Plan,' then pick PLANC125, the Solomons-Seliger proposal.

But I also can't let go of the backstory here. Just a few days ago, lawmakers said they had no map prepared — none whatsoever. They appeared to beg Gov. Rick Perry to give them time to undertake redistricting in a special session, a session which Perry was bizarrely reluctant to call. He later entertained the idea, but only if the lege could promise him a map in two or three days, something which seemed remote given that legislators had kept saying they had nothing in the office. Still, it looked possible that such mapmaking could get tacked on to a session that was expected be called to reform the state's windstorm insurance program — but even this windstorm idea was potentially just pretextual. (Why would you need a pretext to call a session on redistricting? Like this whole saga, it's a mystery.)

Then Perry's hand got forced, via a Democratic filibuster on a must-pass budget bill that ran the clock out on the regular session over the weekend. So Perry had to order a special session immediately after the normal one concluded. In convening this session, Perry initially did not include redistricting on the agenda (something by law the governor must do if the legislature is to undertake work on a particular topic). But yesterday, as if by magic, Republicans produced a fully-formed map — clearly the work of many days or weeks, not something cobbled together in an afternoon on Memorial Day. Then, tada! Perry added redistricting to the calendar, which, if I had to guess, means he expects a quick vote on the new plan. But after all this insanity, I'm out of the guessing game.

The fact is that none of this makes any sense. If the GOP had a federal map ready to go during the regular session (and clearly they did), why didn't they push it through then? Why force a special session — and why go through all this additional kabuki about when and why to schedule it? Nothing at all is going to end up differently than it otherwise would. In a season full of unexpected redistricting stories, this one takes the cake as the strangest by far — and we still have some 35 states left to go!

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In Mission 1 basic, the task was to keep the population in every district in the range of 640,000 to 650,000

Mission 1: Population Equality (Basic) For the first district, I was given 4 districts, each district has different number in population. My mission is to rearrange the districts and change them to all have a population between 640,000- 650,000. While President Trump is away in Paris later this week, President Obama will step back into the spotlight at a fundraiser for his new pet cause, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. This is Mission 1 on basic. First, what I had to do to accomplish the mission was to make sure all the Republicans had an equal share of land. Next, I had to make borders around their homes to. DA: 28 PA: 45 MOZ Rank: 73.

In the result, I got 100 yeas. This mission was successful. It was very difficult at first because I did not understand what I was doing. The problems I ran into was that I did not know how to work the game.

In mission 2 basic the task was to give the republican part a majority in 3 districts instead of the current two. Also, the population had to be in the range of 640,000 to 650,000.

This mission was successful. The results of this mission were 76 yeas and 24 nays. This mission was still difficult because I still did not know how to play this game. The problem I ran into was that I did not know how to get the population correct.

Mission 3’s task was to give each incumbent 55% majority in their district, and also to stay in the population range of 640,000 to 650,000.

This mission was successful. The results of this mission was 100 yeas. This mission was not very difficult because I started to understand what to do. My only problem in this mission was that I couldn’t get the population correct.

The Redistricting Game Cheat

In mission 4 basic, the task was to create a new district with a 65% Cuban majority. Also, the population equality has to stay at 640,000 to 650,000.

In this mission I was very successful. The results of this mission was that I got 100 yeas. The mission was difficult because I had to add a new district and it had a different task which dealt with race. The problem I ran into was that I did not know how to add the new district.

Redistricting Game Mission 2 Walkthrough

In mission 1 advanced in the Redistricting Game, the task was to have population equality in every district. Each district is suppose to have the same number of people which was the limit of 640,000 to 650,000.

In this mission, I was very successful. This mission was very easy because I already knew what to do because of the practice I had playing the other missions. I had no problems going through this mission.

The task in mission 2 advanced was to give my party, republican, a majority, instead of the current 2. So, in the mission I am suppose to make 3 out of the 4 districts have a higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats in their area.Also, the population of every district has to stay at 640,000 to 650,000.

The Redistricting Game Cheats Mission 16

The state legislative results were 100 yeas. This mission was very successful.The task took me a while because it was difficult to make one of the democratic parties have higher republicans in their area and also have to stay in the correct population range.

The Redistricting Game Mission 1

In mission 3 advanced my task was to give each incumbent 55% majority in their district, and also to stay in the population range of 640,000 to 650,000.

The Redistricting Game Cheats Mission 2

The state legislature voting results were all 100 yeas. This mission was very successful.The mission was not very difficult because I already understood what to do in this mission. The problems I ran into were that I couldn’t get one of the districts to have 55% of what their party is.