Kerr County could be in a vacant Texas senatorial district — the 24th District in a proposed map.
The map was released Saturday by the Texas legislature, which began its third special session on Monday. Currently, Dawn Buckingham represents the 24th District, which includes Kerr County.
However, the new map puts Buckingham in the 25th District with Donna Campbell, currently the senator from the district. The 24th District would be an open seat in the 2022 election.
Both Buckingham and Campbell are physicians. Buckingham, however, said she's going to run for the Texas Land Commissioner.
The redrawn 24th District would include Kerr, Gillespie, Bandera, Medina, Lampasas, Llano, Burnet, Coryell and Bell counties, along with a chunk of northwestern Atascosa County.
Buckingham currently represents an expansive region that stretches as far south as Bandera, as far north as the southern neighborhoods of Abilene, includes sections of Austin and juts eastward through Killeen and Temple.
Buckingham is a resident of Travis County.
The process, according to the state redistricting website, is:
- Apportionment data for congressional districts was released on April 26, 2021, rather than on the preceding Jan. 1 as provided by federal law.
- Detailed redistricting data was delivered to states on Aug. 12, after sine die adjournment of the 87th regular session.
- The third called session of the 87th Legislature convened on Sept. 20 to consider state legislative, congressional, and State Board of Education (SBOE) redistricting, among other issues.
In the Texas House of Representatives, Kerr County would remain in the 53rd District, currently held by Andy Murr (R-Junction).
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