El Paso, TX (WBAP/KLIF) – In a sworn statement related to a court challenge over new redistricting boundaries for Texas District 10 in Fort Worth, retiring Republican State Senator Kel Seliger said in a declaration signed in November and reaffirmed in a video deposition earlier this month, that he believes his party violated federal voting laws.
According to the Texas Tribune, Seliger’s declaration referenced his experience as chairman of the state’s Select Redistricting Committee a decade ago when similar efforts to redraw District 10 were later found to discriminatory against people of color by a federal district court in Washington DC.
“Having participated in the 2011 and 2013 Senate Select Redistricting Committee proceedings, and having read the prior federal court decision regarding SD10, it was obvious to me that the renewed effort to dismantle SD 10 violated the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.”
Part of his video deposition on the matter was played in court proceedings in El Paso this week, where a three-judge panel heard arguments over challenges to the new boundaries.
Democratic State Senator Beverly Powell currently represents District 10. She and 6 Tarrant county voters filed a lawsuit over the new maps. The maps split some black and Hispanic residents previously in district 10 into two other majority-white districts.
Seliger announced in October that he is not seeking reelection.
(Copyright 2022 WBAP/KLIF 24/7 News. This report contains material from the Texas Tribune.)
