GOP Set to Conquer Redivided Texas

Texas's U.S. House delegation, which Democrats controlled 17 to 15 before Hall's switch, would swing dramatically to a 22 to 10 Republican edge if the GOP redistricting strategy works as planned.

In Cleburne, south of Fort Worth, Republicans mingled recently at the local party headquarters to await returns from a runoff primary and to marvel at how rapidly their county and others have gone from Democratic control to Republican.

"There is no real Democratic Party in Johnson County anymore," said the county GOP treasurer, Roy Giddens, who wore a red, white and blue shirt for election night. What's truly remarkable, he said, is that the Democratic Party dominated local government and politics only a few years ago.

Johnson County Commissioner John W. Matthews (R) agreed, expressing amazement more than glee. "The transition was so dramatic," he said. When Republicans began winning local elections, several Democratic officeholders switched parties to save their political skins. Nowadays at election time, Matthews said, "it's amazing the Democratic turnout: It's nonexistent."

All of this is bad news for Edwards, the affable seven-term Democrat from Waco, 55 miles to the south. The GOP redistricting plan robbed him of some friendly precincts and gave him Johnson County and several other GOP-leaning communities.

Edwards, however, says that "this isn't a new experience for me. . . . I've won seven consecutive elections in a district that goes Republican at the top of the ticket," noting that Al Gore won barely a third of the vote in his district in 2000. Edwards said his moderate views on social and fiscal issues, and his strong support of the military and its private-sector contractors, will appeal to many independent voters.

Republican activists say the district, which includes President Bush's home in Crawford, was drawn especially for conservative state Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth of Johnson County, who won the primary runoff that Matthews and Giddens were monitoring. In her victory speech to about 100 supporters in a modest office building in Cleburne, Wohlgemuth outlined her main campaign themes for defeating "liberal Chet Edwards." "It's time we sent someone to Washington who is going to support our president rather than support Ted Kennedy," she said to cheers and applause. She particularly criticized Edwards for voting against a ban on a procedure that critics call partial-birth abortion.

Such talk appeals to many Texas voters who say they, or their parents, used to be Democrats. "Democrats jumped off the bandwagon when they went from pro-life to pro-choice," said John Lacey, 44, a roofing contractor who dropped by Wohlgemuth's headquarters.

Edwards won reelection in 2002 with 52 percent of the vote against a Republican who raised about one-third as much money as he did. His new district is more Republican, say insiders from both parties, and Wohlgemuth is likely to match him dollar for dollar.

Showdown in Dallas

In the sumptuous north Dallas home of lawyer Michael Gruber, a few doors from Ross Perot's mansion, Texas state Rep. Kenny Marchant (R) introduced Sessions at a recent late-afternoon fundraiser that generated $200,000 for the congressman. In doing so, he hinted why the Sessions-Frost campaign might be the state's most bitter this fall.

As the Texas legislature debated congressional redistricting last year, "Pete Sessions was on the phone day after day saying, 'We've got to get rid of Martin Frost,' " recalled Marchant, who is favored to win a new Dallas area House seat of his own.

To be sure, Frost and Sessions do not like each other, according to people who watch them on the House Rules Committee and elsewhere. Activists from both parties describe Frost, 62, as a deep-dyed Democrat who loves poring over precinct maps and election results, and who helped draw the current Texas districts that resulted in a slight Democratic edge even as Republicans were sweeping every statewide election.

"Some people say, 'I've never worked in a campaign before, but I'll do anything to beat Martin Frost,' " said Pat Cotton, a longtime Republican consultant in Dallas.

Sessions, 49, is arguably as partisan as Frost, showing little patience for liberal-leaning people, policies or places. Aiming a barb at Washington, he greeted a recent visitor from the District by saying, "You just left a work-free drug zone."

The Texas redistricting plan left Frost with some of his old stronghold, the largely minority Oak Cliff neighborhood. But the new 32nd District now runs north and then hooks sharply east, encompassing huge swaths of affluent, heavily Republican north Dallas, where Sessions lives.

Frost said his keys to victory are a high voter turnout among minorities and a willingness among some moderate Republicans "to split their ticket." He is particularly targeting Dallas's Jewish community, and his campaign brochure notes that Frost "is the only Jewish Member of Congress from Texas."

But some of those Jewish voters are loyal Republicans, said Donald Fielding, a longtime business owner and civic activist in Dallas's Jewish community.

"My son and daughter are Republicans, and they'll not vote for Frost," said Fielding, 81. "My wife is a Republican, and she'll not vote for him. I'm an independent, and I will vote for him. I've already sent him some money."

"If I had to wager," Fielding summed up gloomily, "I would have to bet Sessions will win."