Sadly, it appears yet another redistricting train wreck is proceeding apace in the General Assembly, and there’s no one at the controls either to put on the brakes or change course.
This time, after the spectacle of redrawing the lines for State Senate and House of Delegates districts, we’re looking at the potential for knock-down, drag-’em fight over lines for Virginia’s 11 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Currently, eight Republicans and three Democrats represent the the commonwealth in the House.
Every 10 years, after the once-a-decade U.S. Census, state legislatures recraft electoral district boundaries to reflect changes in population. Over the years, the process has been a bloody political process filled with vitriol and raw power politics between the parties; the public rarely, if ever, benefits.
Almost 10 years ago, a group of Virginia’s political and civic leaders began advocating for a nonpartisan redistricting process, turning the work over to a commission appointed by the governor and leaders of the House and Senate.
They got close to pulling it off, tantalizingly close, but in the end failed.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, during his 2009 campaign, seemed to buy into the idea but wound up naming only an “advisory” panel whose recommendations he promptly ignored.
And now, the Republicans who control the House and the Democrats in charge of the Senate are at an impasse over the congressional lines.
The House has passed one map, the Senate another. And there they sit. The panel members have no plans to meet, only saying they hope to “chat” after the November elections in which all 140 Assembly seats will be up for re-election. Should legislators fail to produce a map, a federal court would step in to do so.
That would be a tragedy and an abrogation of their duties. Virginia voters deserve better. We deserve districts that are competitive, that put incumbents in the hot seat, that serve the common interest, not a particular party’s interest. We deserve better than we’re likely to get.
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