Redistricting and Reapportionment

The census has a profound impact on the way that our nation chooses its leaders. The U.S. Constitution calls for two houses in Congress - one, the Senate, consists of two representatives from each state; the other, the House of Representatives, consists of 435 representatives, distributed among the states based on their respective populations. The size of the House is set by federal law. After each decennial (10 years) census, the new population counts are used to re-allocate the number of districts per state, according to a mathematical formula set by law, based on the population of that state. Each state is guaranteed at least one congressional district regardless of population. This process is called reapportionment. After each census,the Secretary of Commerce is required to submit the state population totals to the President within nine months of Census Day. The law then requires the President to submit the apportionment to the House of Representatives at the start of a new Congress. States may gain a representative in the House of their population increases compared to other states, and will lose one (or more) if their population goes down. If the population grows equally in every state, nothing changes in Congress. Because of the 2010 census, these states gained members of the House: FL, AZ, WA, GA, NV, UT, SC, TX. And these states lost: IL, IA, MA, MI, MO, NJ, NY, OH, PA. You can see trends in regions of the country. CA did not gain seats for the first time in 100 years. TX has 36 now, and had only 22 in 1960. NY is down to 27 from its high of 45 a few decades ago. Every state is guaranteed at least one, no matter how small their population, and the 7 states with 1 are: AK, DE, MT, ND, SD, VT and WY. After the states receive the number of districts allowed per state, it is their responsibility every decade to draw the new boundaries of those districts in their states. This process is called redistricting. In some states, the legislature is responsible for redistricting, while in others, independent commissions set redistricting plans. Both reapportionment and redistricting directly impact the local, state, and national leaders voted to serve in office because of the politics involved in redistricting in each state. For example, many states, led by the majority party, have drawn districts in such a way that opponents to the majority party are sequestered in just a few districts, leading to district maps that are skewed towards one party. In effect this has lowered or even eliminated the competition for seats in the House of Representatives, which has impacted the competition of House seats nationally. This process is called gerrymandering. Some states have to redistrict by creating a new district, as in WA this year. Others have to kill a district, which involves kicking a member of Congress out. And if the boundaries of the districts change a lot, sometimes a House member will find themselves with a considerably different home district, sometimes with constituents (ie, voters) who support them less. Members whose districts are killed stay in Congress until the end of the Congressional session. If they want to remain in Congress they will have to find a new district and run for election, just like anyone else. When a new district is created, it sits empty until the next Congressional election (Fall 2012 in our case). Anyone is eligible to run for that seat.

Redistricting and Reapportionment

[From Seattle Times, fall 2011]
OLYMPIA A push to create Washington's first majority-minority congressional district appeared to gain momentum Tuesday as the first proposed maps were revealed by the panel in charge of redrawing the state's 2012 political boundaries. Three of the four voting members of the Washington State Redistricting Commission endorsed the concept, drawing variations of a district that would pair parts of southeast Seattle with ethnically diverse South King County cities including Renton, Kent and SeaTac. That would, for the first time, create a congressional district where ethnic minorities, chiefly Asian Americans, African Americans and Latinos, would make up a majority. Yet, whether the idea survives in coming months or is tossed around as a bargaining chip remains to be seen. The maps released Tuesday were only a starting point for what are sure to be intense negotiations between the two Democratic and two Republican members of the commission. Three of the four commissioners must agree on new maps for congressional and legislative districts by the end of the year or the task falls to the state Supreme Court. Both parties proposed maps that appeared aimed, at least in part, at maximizing their prospects in the 2012 elections. Republicans, for example, are seeking to create more rural districts and limit what they argued is the outsize influence of the metropolitan Puget Sound cities. Meanwhile, one Democratic proposal would push 15 Republican state lawmakers out of their current districts. In a job that melds demographic science with partisan maneuvering, the commission is tasked with reshaping the state's congressional and legislative boundaries to account for population trends reflected in the 2010 census. That includes drawing the state's much-anticipated new 10th Congressional District, awarded due to population growth. A coalition of immigrant-rights and other activist groups has been pushing for a majority-minority congressional district for months, showing up in force at public hearings to make the case that the state's growing minority population deserves more political clout. At first glance Tuesday, it appears the commission was listening. In a move that surprised some activists, the concept was endorsed by the panel's two Republicans, former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton and former state legislator Tom Huff, as well as Democrat Tim Ceis, a former Seattle deputy mayor. The lone holdout was a Democrat, Dean Foster, the appointee of state House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle. In the two Republican plans, the majority-minority district would start as an open seat, centered on South King County and including parts of southeast Seattle as well as Kent, Renton, and SeaTac. (Gorton's plan also would push the district east to include Mercer Island and Bellevue.) The commissioners took widely varying approaches to locating the state's new 10th Congressional District. Gorton produced perhaps the most unusual plan, stretching the new district across much of the northern rural portion of the state, from the San Juan Islands to Okanogan County. Gorton said he wanted to ensure the new district was not centered on the urban areas he sees as overrepresented. Several lawmakers were surprised to find they might have to move or run against colleagues to stay in office. More information can be found at www.redistricting.wa.gov
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017143123_apwaredistricting2ndldwritethru.html https://www.google.com/fusiontables/embedviz?viz=MAP&q=select+col2%3E%3E0+from+2546646+&h=false&lat=47.314128482299914&lng=-120.5592102885742&z=8&t=4&l=col2%3E%3E0