During their final episode from Austin, Texas, “The Daily Show” ran a segment spotlighting the absolute weirdest thing about Austin: Our congressional districts.
It’s well known that Austin is a very liberal town. But did you know that five of this city’s six representatives in Congress are Republican? It’s true.
In the business of politics, this is called “gerrymandering,” where the state lawmakers who draw voting districts split their opponent’s strongholds into fragments and tie them to large groups of voters who feel differently.
Both major political parties do this, but Republican-run Texas is one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation, and Austin’s congressional representation is one of their biggest targets. In fact, Austin is the nation’s largest city without its own congressional anchor district.
That in mind, “Daily Show” contributor Samantha Bee hit the streets to find out how the people of Austin feel about having almost no voice in Congress.
“Oh my God, you Austinites!” she exclaimed. “You claim to be so weird, but then your congressional representatives are all staunch Republicans. You almost had me fooled into thinking it’s really, totally progressive here, but really it’s… Grrrrrrr, I’m never gonna be cool! God, you got me. You guys are so cool. You guys are so counter culture that I can’t even keep up.”
“That is pretty weird,” a green-haired Austinite told her. “But not weird in the way that I like.”
This video is from “The Daily Show,” aired Sept. 30, 2014.
