Cedar Park - Leander Edition | February 2022

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Texas Senate A large portion of the Cedar Park-Leander area will move from Senate District 5 to Senate District 24.

“The idea is to create safe districts for your party that will be won even in a relatively bad year for your party and then create safe districts for the other party that will have very high levels of their voters so that those voters are not the majority party’s district,” Albert said. Primary elections will likely determine who wins the seat as districts are drawn to favor one party, Albert said, though primaries historically have a lower voter turnout than the general election. Election races can become more competitive in the 10-year cycle as dis- tricts grow and change before the next redistricting process. Divideddistricts Large changes were made in the new Texas House maps in Cedar Park and Leander. Two districts rep- resented a majority of Cedar Park-Leander residents: District 136 previously represented residents in Wil- liamson County, and District 47 represented residents in Travis County. Now, four districts will divide the two-city area. Dis- trict 19 replaces District 47’s coverage in Travis County, and districts 20, 52 and 136 will split Cedar Park and Leander in Williamson County. These changes made District 136 a safer Democratic district and District 52 a Republican-leaning district, Albert said. As a result, District 52 Rep. James Talarico, DRound Rock, chose to run in District 50 in North Aus- tin instead. District 136 represented most of Cedar Park, Lean- der and the Williamson County portion of Austin. New maps changed the district, which is represented by state Rep. John Bucy III, DAustin, to include Round Rock, the Brushy Creek area and part of Cedar Park. Bucy, who is running for reelection to District 136, said several of his bills in the prior legislative session were for the city of Leander, which he will no longer represent. He said changes were coming as Williamson County saw signicant growth in 10 years and the dis- tricts were overpopulated. “It’s kind of a frustrating and fascinating experience to go through redistricting because you spend all your time really building up relationships in a community, and then overnight those lines are redrawn, and things are shifted, and you have new communities to work with immediately,” Bucy said. The three house districts inWilliamson County work closely together, Bucy said, and the oces will work together to help constituents nd where they need to go as their districts change. “It’s important that a regional delegation get along and work together,” Bucy said. “And that’s what we’ve done in Williamson County.” Amajority of Leander and Cedar Parkwill now reside within House District 20, in which state Rep. Terry Wil- son is seeking reelection. District 20 will now cover a major portion of Cedar Park and Leander, Georgetown and northwest Williamson County. Wilson, RMarble Falls, said two similar issues between his old district, which includedMilam, Burnet and part of Williamson counties, and new district are growth and rural water issues. Cedar Park will be represented by four House dis- tricts, and Leander will lie within three House districts.

Voting districts

County line

5 24 14 25

2010

2020

BAGDAD RD.

CRYSTAL FALLS PKWY.

183

NEW HOPE DR.

WHITESTONE BLVD.

1431

183A TOLL

ANDERSON MILL RD.

45 TOLL

620

U.S. House District 31 will continue representing a large part of Cedar Park and Leander in Williamson County