Welcome to this week’s edition of “Redistricting Rundown,” a synopsis of redistricting news brought to you by the RSLC’s Redistricting Majority Project (REDMAP). For those that are new, this weekly update gives you the latest on what those in the beltway, and across the country, are saying about the impending reapportionment and redistricting process.
While Census workers will soon be going door-to-door to account for the country’s immigration, migration and reproductive trends, the RSLC is getting ready for the end result – reapportionment and the legislative races that can determine the political landscape for the next 10 years.
In this week’s “Redistricting Rundown” we get more insights on exactly which states’ legislatures will play a crucial role in the redrawing of congressional lines, who the Democrats are trying to make into “boogeymen,” and what actions are being taken by individual states.
The Wall Street Journal’s Brody Mullins writes, “Labor unions, corporations and wealthy individuals are preparing to break spending records to influence the November elections. But more than in recent years, they will be focusing on races for governor and state legislatures. … Each party says that winning key statehouse campaigns would give it the power to draw district lines that could cause 20 to 25 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to change hands. … The Republican party’s main campaign group focusing on statehouses [is] the Republican State Leadership Committee.” The report goes from macro to micro: “Each state has its own procedure for determining how to redraw congressional districts, most often with governors and state legislatures controlling the process. … In Indiana, for example, Democrats controlled redistricting after the 2000 elections and picked up three additional congressional seats over the past decade. Now, Republicans are trying to reverse those gains. If the GOP picks up just three seats in the state House, the party will control both chambers of the legislature and strengthen its hand in the redistricting process. … ‘Indiana could be the poster child for the importance of this election with respect to redistricting,’ said Brian Bosma, a onetime state House speaker, who is running the GOP campaign to win a majority in the chamber. ‘The election of 2000 determined the leadership in our state for a decade. That’s precisely what will happen in 2010.’”
Salon looks at the poster “boogeymen” Democrats are trying to use to raise money for their own state legislative efforts. Ed Gillespie and Tom Reynolds “for the GOP, which has given its program the intimidating-sounding name REDMAP. (It stands for Redistricting Majority Project.) Ex-Hillary Clinton confidant Harold Ickes reveals that Democrat donors are concerned at the mere “mention” of Gillespie “and the prospect of new GOP districts all over the country.”
“The reason for all the activity,” writes USA Today’s Kathy Kiely, “In all but six states, legislatures have a hand in redrawing congressional boundaries after each Census. … ‘If you focus some resources you can have an impact on congressional elections for a decade,’ says Ed Gillespie, a former national Republican Party chairman and co-chair of the party’s effort to win state legislatures.”
Speaking of the Census and its impact on redistricting, “Bush adviser Karl Rove has teamed up with the Census Bureau to film a new public service announcement urging people fill out their 2010 Census form,” according to The Huffington Post. “Rove told the Washington Post that he agreed to appear in the commercial, ‘because the Census settles apportionment of Congress and the current distrust of Washington should not discourage people from being counted.’” See the video here.
CQ-Roll Call Senior Elections Analyst, Bob Benenson, wraps up his look at how gubernatorial races will affect congressional redistricting with a “a focus on seats up in 2010 now held by Republicans in states that are projected to keep the same number of House seats following reapportionment.”
And in the states, The Oregonian’s Jeff Mapes writes, “Oregon has a lot of interesting [redistricting] wrinkles. The state still has a slim chance of picking up another congressional seat, which makes congressional redistricting even more important.” In Illinois, Chicago Public Radio reports, “Competing proposals are now on the table to overhaul how Illinois draws boundaries for legislative districts. The push comes about a year before the next round of redistricting begins. … Another proposed amendment, pushed by groups ranging from the League of Women Voters to top Illinois Republicans, gives that initial mapmaking power to a bipartisan commission appointed by legislative leaders.”
The RSLC is the only national organization whose mission is to elect down ballot state-level Republican office-holders. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Adam Temple at 571.480.4891.