Hopeful runs in district he helped draw

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Republican attorney Ryan Downton finds himself under fire from from Democrats and at least one Republican for trying to win a state House district he helped draw.

The 34-year-old former Capitol staffer, however, sees it differently.

"I don't think it's fair to criticize people for wanting to be involved and have a role in government," he said. "And that's what I was doing.”

Once a decade, state lawmakers re-draw district lines , deciding where you'll vote and shaping how you’ll be represented in Congress and the in the Legislature.

But changes to your voting district in Texas are now on hold.

A federal court has blocked both the congressional and state House redistricting maps, saying they violate the Voting Rights Act. The outcome will determine who represents you at both levels of government. And the legal battles could drag out for months, even years.

As top lawyer to the House Redistricting Committee last session, Downton worked with members to create the state maps eventually approved by the legislature. As a result, Travis County's only Republican-held district – HD 47 – soon grew to cover the entire western side of the county and now includes Downton's home.

"Texas Republicans are finding new and innovative ways to manipulate Texas elections,” said Kirsten Gray, spokeswoman for the Texas Democratic Party. “We're not going to stand for that."

Though HD 47 is not one of the court-challenged districts at this time, the TDP is already calling attention to the redistricting actions there. So far, Downton is not backing down from a fight with GOP freshman incumbent Paul Workman .

"Ryan Downton should absolutely respect that this is a tremendous conflict of interest and bow out of this race,” said Gray.

Downton said he has no plans to take that advice, and suggests that Democrats are trying to protect the district’s Republican incumbent heading into the 2012 primaries in March.

"I think they're scared to death that I'll beat Paul Workman,” Downton said.

He is criticizing Workman's failed bill from the last legislative session to create a guest worker program to let certain illegal immigrants work in the state legally, one of the reasons Downton said he thinks Democrats want Workman to win.

Workman said it "wasn't a path to citizenship.”

“”When you're talking about who's more conservative, I'm not the one who worked for a Democrat,” said Workman.

In 2009 and 2010, Downton did work as general counsel on the Committee on Technology & Economic Development, which was chaired by the Rep. Mark Strama , an Austin Democrat. But Downton still said he would be the more conservative candidate in the GOP primary for HD 47.

Downton continues to point out his conservative credentials – pro-life, pro-gun, pro-church. In addition, he is also setting up a likely campaign point by attacking President Barack Obama’s health care plan after he and his wife had to sell their medical imaging company due to the plan’s “negative effects.”

He is also blasting Workman for not fighting harder for a second Republican seat in Travis County.

“If you split the west side of Travis County in half, you could’ve created two Republican districts now that would have continued to trend toward stronger Republican districts in the future,” he said.

Workman said Downton was "the one in the driver's seat.”

“I was advised there was probably not room for two Republican districts,” he said. “The map is fine. I didn’t object to it. I didn’t promote it either.”

House Redistricting Chairman Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, had no comment on whether Downton should run, but that he was no longer working for for the redistricting committee.

“He helped draw the districts, but he didn’t just sit there and draw the Travis County map from scrap,” Solomons said. “The Travis County delegation, including Workman, signed off on it and gave their input.”