From R.G. Ratcliffe at the Houston Chronicle.

The U.S. Census forms arriving in Texans’ mailboxes next week will start the decennial dance over whether cities such as Houston or San Antonio get new seats in Congress through redistricting.

While the Census is nonpartisan, the redistricting process is highly political. How districts are drawn can determine whether they are competitive or are solidly Democratic or Republican.

Texas currently sends 20 Republicans and 12 Democrats to Congress. If the state gets four new seats, they likely will be split: two Republican and two Hispanic Democratic.

But the GOP also is likely to look for ways to reconfigure the districts of Democrats Chet Edwards of Waco and Lloyd Doggett of Austin to make it difficult for them to win re-election in 2012.

Experts’ early looks at Census estimates point to a potential new congressional district in northwest Harris County. That could be alluring to state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, who represents the area in the Legislature.

Read the rest.

UPDATE:  R.G. Ratcliffe has updated his story and posted a map showing the population growth in Texas between 2000 and 2008.