Fair Districts Massachusetts proposed two maps that would merge Western Mass. into a single Congressional district.
Fair Districts Massachusetts has proposed two plans for redistricting the state. View Plan A | View Plan BUnder two different proposals from the group Fair Districts Massachusetts, most of Western Massachusetts' two Congressional districts would be merged into one.
The group, lead by former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Jack E. Robinson, unveiled the two maps today, which can be downloaded from their website.
Because the maps come from a third party, it is difficult to tell what influence - if any - the proposals would have on the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting, which is charged with eliminating one of the Commonwealth's 10 Congressional districts after the 2010 census showed that Massachusetts' population growth has not kept pace with other states.
The committee is in the middle of a number of hearings, including a recent one in Springfield, to gather testimony and proposals for the redistricting process.
Robinson presented the proposals Wednesday alongside state Rep. Daniel Winslow, a Norfolk Republican and legal counsel to the group. If implemented, their maps would force incumbent Richard Neal, D-Springfield, and John Olver, D-Amherst, to run against each other in 2012.
“I know a lot of folks out west have been clamoring to maintain the two incumbent Congressmen’s districts, but the math makes that nearly impossible and frankly there’s no reason to do that,” Robinson told The State House News Service.
The State House News Service outlines the difference between the maps:
The group presented a Plan A and Plan B, both consisting of nine districts based on population totals from the 2010 Census that either reflected the perfect district size, or deviated by one person.
Under Plan A, Boston and Cambridge would be consolidated into a single district of minority-influence. Reps. Michael Capuano, Barney Frank and Edward Markey would be left to compete against one another in a district north of the city.
The second plan, Plan B, would create a majority-minority district with a majority of Boston stretching north along the coast through Everett and Chelsea to Lynn with a minority voting age population of 55.5 percent. Rep. Markey would be the only incumbent in the new district. Olver and Neal would again be pitted against one another in western Massachusetts, Capuano and Frank would fall into the same district, and so would Rep. Stephen Lynch and freshman Rep. William Keating.
Coverage of the redistricting process so far has frequently mentioned the possibility that Western Mass. will lose one of its two Congressional seats, both of which already stretch well into Central Mass.
There are a number of considerations on top of population that the redistricting committee must weigh, among them the political clout of the state's House delegation, which could protect the two seats occupied by Neal and Olver, both of whom have seniority on their side. We touched on the subject in a previous post.
What do you think? Do either of the maps proposed by Fair Districts Massachusetts appeal to you? Should Western Mass. lose a House seat? Join the conversation in the comments.