Battle Lines The weird shape of a new Houston congressional district guarantees a power struggle between Hispanic and Anglo politicians. IN EVERY WAY, THE NEW 29TH CONGRESSIONAL district is the future of Texas politics. The shape, population, and importance of this Harris County district all foreshadow a new kind of urban politics that will be the norm for the nineties—more ethnic and more divisive than Texas has known. The 29th district is not configured to elect the kind of consensus-seeking politician Houston has sent to Congress in the past—George Bush in the sixties, Barbara Jordan in the seventies, Mike Andrews in the eighties. Its odd boundary was drawn for the sole purpose of electing Houston’s first Hispanic congressman. Yet the likelihood is that it won’t.