Reading his Wiki, I don't understand how he's still in office. It seems like he is perfect example of an unethical politician being bought out by lobbyists. He is the author of SOPA, saying that opponents to the bill are a "vocal minority" and "Because they’re strident doesn’t mean they’re either legitimate or large in number."
>He authored the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
>On April 23, 2006 CNet reported that Smith was introducing a bill that "would expand the DMCA's restrictions on software that can bypass copy protections and grant federal police more wiretapping and enforcement powers."[19] The move sparked a negative response among technology enthusiasts in opposition to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
>On June 23, 2011, H.R. 2306 was introduced to Congress by Barney Frank and co-signer Ron Paul.[20] The intent of the bill was to end the Federal prohibition on Cannabis, turning over the regulation of marijuana to states (similar to alcohol). The bill was the first of its kind since prohibition began. H.R. 2306 would limit federal powers to interstate transfer; while laws for cultivation, sales, use, and taxation would be determined by each state. This bill was well received by the public,[who?] especially medical marijuana patients and activists.
>Lamar Smith informed reporters that he had no intention of considering the bill or providing it with a hearing.[Need quotation to verify] With Smith's position as chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, he has great influence on what bills will be considered.
>On June 24, 2011, Lamar Smith's Facebook page was flooded with protests from citizens, asking him to change his position on the bill and calling for a fair hearing.[citation needed] Smith's Facebook page was temporarily taken down soon after, to be returned void of all comments related to H.R. 2306 and with future comments disabled.[citation needed] The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) encouraged MMJ patients and activists to contact Smith via his phone, which was soon turned to an automatic answering machine, stating the office was closed.[23]
Here are his campaign contributors http://maplight.org/us-congress/legislator/470-lamar-smith
I don't live in Texas, so I have no voice in him getting reelected, but I do want to
... keep reading on reddit ➡
The map compared to the old map: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/texas/
The map unsurprisingly somewhat overly represents Republicans, Texas has a partisan lean of R+12.0, meaning if it was perfectly representative republicans would on average hold around 21-22 seats, so even though republicans are overrepresented it is not by much.
So why did republicans pass this map? Because it makes every single republican seat extremely solid. The closest republican seat is R+13, and the second closest is R+22. This basically makes it impossible for democrats to gain any seats for the next 10 years, even if democrats gain popularity statewide (as current trends suggest). Moreover, the map leaves room for republican gains if the Tejanos shift to the right, as they are located where the swing seat and the weakest democrat seat (D+7) are.
Overall, I would say this is a decent map for Democrats in 2022. Texas could have been gerrymandered a lot worse, for example Illinois (D+13.4) is proposing a much more ambitious map with 14D, 3R seats. On the other hand democrats dont have many chances to gerrymander, so perhaps the republicans are playing safe in the more volatile state of texas and will make its gains elsewhere.
(Partisan lean stats based on 538's methodology https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-red-or-blue-is-your-state-your-congressional-district/)
*sigh*
