Go here for links to the final maps.
ORIGINAL 9:30 p.m. post Jan. 1: The redistricting deal struck late Saturday evening for Eastern Washington legislative districts removed the last big sticking point, and the Washington State Redistricting Commission is moving to wrap up its once-a-decade job this afternoon.
The Eastern Washington compromise struck between Republican commissioner Slade Gorton and Democrat Dean Foster can be seen here. Other maps are here.
It creates new boundaries for the 15th district that make it a majority Latino district, reflecting the demographic realities. The district squares up against county boundaries in east Yakima County, running from east Yakima toward the Benton County line and including the towns of Sunnyside and Grandview.
The map also keeps the 6th district, which wraps around Spokane’s liberal core, as a competitive or swing district, Democratic commissioner Tim Ceis said. Ceis said the plan looks good to him and he thinks the commission can finish its small plan adjustments and other work today.
Gorton and Ceis had struck a compromise on a congressional district plan on Tuesday. The commission needs to approve a plan that includes new maps for the state’s 49 legislative and 10 congressional districts by day’s end.
The congressional plan retains Democrats’ edge in five districts, Republicans’ edge in four and reconfigures the 1st district to become a swing district. The plan also puts Olympia and most of Thurston County in the new 10th district, which Washington earned by virtue of its population growth of about 1 million people over the past decade.
The Democrat-leaning 10th district has already drawn candidacies from Democrat Denny Heck of Olympia and Republican Pierce County Council members Dick Muri of Lakewood and Stan Flemming of University Place. Republican David Castillo of Olympia is weighing a bid.
Redistricting is done once a decade to rebalance or equalize the population in after the U.S. Census. Washington earned its 9th district in 1991-92.
Based on the 2010 election results, all state House Democrats now in office would have been elected that year under the new legislative boundaries, according to Foster. Plus, former Rep. Dawn Morrell of Puyallup would have won re-election, Foster said.
UPDATE: Republican Tom Huff disputes Foster's claim, saying the GOP's analysis of past elections shows that Morrell and current Democratic Rep. Kathy Haigh of Shelton both would have lost.
Gorton said that by the GOP’s definition of competitive or swing districts, 16 legislative districts are in that class – using a complicated formula based on 10 previous races in 2008 and 2010 where the average party split was between 46 percent and 54 percent.
Gorton said that by Democrats’ measure, 15 are swing. Gorton did not identify which ones meet the test.
At least three of the four voting members of the commission must vote for the plans and send them to the Legislature under terms of a 1983 constitutional amendment that created the bipartisan commission. Lawmakers can only make small changes to the plan but could just let it take effect.
Democrats now control the congressional delegation by a 5 to 4 margin, the state House by 56 to 42, and the state Senate by 27 to 22. Gorton said the final maps awaiting approval leave that pretty much in place.
Gorton, who served in the Legislature, three terms as attorney general, and as U.S. senator, said he thinks the Washington redistricting process is the best in the country – especially “when you look at what is going on in Texas on one side and Illinois on the other, where it is in the Legislature and there’s one party over the other.’’
“When it’s done like we do, of course they pay attention to incumbents but it’s fair between the parties, which is basically what elections are about,” Gorton added.
Among the final adjustments to the legislative maps is moving the cities of Milton and Pacific, which overlap the Pierce-King county line, in the 30th Legislative District and 9th Congressional District.
A few incumbents also are moved to new districts – including Republican Rep. Gary Alexander of Thurston County, who moves from the 20th into the 2nd, and Republican Rep. Jim McCune of Graham who moves from the 2nd to the 28th where two Democrats, Reps. Tami Green and Troy Kelley, hold office.
Republican commissioner Tom Huff said that chain reaction grew out of population growth trends that moved Republican Rep. Ed Orcutt from the 18th into the 20th.
Democratic Sen. Margarita Prentice of Seattle also is bumped from the 11th district into the 37th, where Democratic Sen. Adam Kline is the incumbent.
UPDATE to original 12:37 p.m. post Jan. 1: The commission postponed its final vote on the legislative and congressional plans several times in the afternoon and evening.
But the final vote is expected any minute.
