unlike other states, and even the republican party of texas, the texas democratic party does not allocate its delegates to congressional districts. instead, it allocates its delegates to the state's 31 senatorial districts. the number of delegates that the party allocates to each district depends on the votes cast in each district for the democratic candidates during two previous "general" elections: chris bell in the 2006 texas gubernatorial election and john kerry in the 2004 u.s. presidential election. one effect of this allocation scheme is that districts with a high population of african-american residents are awarded a higher number of delegates, while districts with a high population of hispanic residents are awarded a lower number.