Eye on redistricting, Ed Gillespie takes up GOP fight for state legislatures

Ed Gillespie, former Republicanchairman and senior advisor to President George W. Bush, is taking on a new assignment to help his party gird for redistricting fights soon to erupt nationwide.

He will chair the Republican State Leadership Committee, a party caucus representing state attorneys general, lieutenant governors, secretaries of state, and legislators. The longtime adviser to Dick Armey, during Armey's days as House majority leader and a congressman from suburban Dallas, will focus his energies on harnessing GOP momentum into majorities in key state legislatures.

It's a two-step familiar to anyone who watched Texas politics in the last decade. Control the Legislature and you control how congressional district lines are drawn, locking in gains and shutting out the other side for a decade. By some estimates, a swing of as many as 50 U.S. House seats could hinge on that sort of tweaking.

Former Rep. Tom Reynoldsof New York will serve as Gillespie's vice chair. Reynolds used to chair the National Republican Congressional Committee, a job now held by Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions, and was known for an unusually detailed grasp of district-by-district politics.

"The elections in the states this year are instrumental in shaping the political landscape to restore fiscal responsibility to Washington for years to come," Sessions said in a statement put out by the RSLC. "With Tom Reynolds leading their efforts to affect redistricting, the RSLC will have a major impact on those critical state races."

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