Virginia redistricting plans coming soon

Virginia lawmakers could introduce redistricting plans for the House of Delegates, Virginia Senate and Congress as early as Tuesday.

The majority Republicans in the House of Delegates hope to hold on to their current margin, effectively 61 seats out of 100, including two conservative independents. The majority Democrats in the 40-seat Senate want to increase their two-seat margin.

Virginia's congressional delegation consists of eight Republicans and three Democrats. A report recently leaked to Politico indicates that members of the state's congressional delegation have agreed on a proposed map that would favor the status quo.

Every 10 years, legislators redraw district boundaries to reflect population shifts represented in census figures. The legislature will come to Richmond on April 4 for a special redistricting session that is expected to take two or three days.

Virginia now has slightly more than 8 million residents. Both parties recognize that power will keep shifting to Northern Virginia because of population growth there. That means Southside and Southwest Virginia likely will lose legislative seats.

Each congressional district ideally would have 727,366 residents. In Northern Virginia, the 10th Congressional District, represented by Republican Frank R. Wolf, is 142,000 residents over the ideal number.

The ideal House of Delegates district would have about 80,000 people, including children and people who are not registered to vote. Currently, the 13th House of Delegates district, represented by Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, has more than twice the ideal population.

The ideal state Senate district would have 200,000 people.

Republicans controlled Virginia's redistricting process for the first time in 2001. Exceeding their own expectations, they gained 14 seats in the House of Delegates in that November's elections. They picked up two seats in the state Senate in 2003, the first election after redistricting, and two seats in Congress.

This year, with Democrats in control of the Senate and Republicans in control of the House of Delegates, the two parties are expected to defer to each other. This will be the first time when each house is controlled by a different party.

There is a wild card — Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, who can amend or veto whatever plans the General Assembly approves and sends to him.

Anyone in the legislature can propose a redistricting bill, but the main bills to be discussed likely will come from the Senate and House Privileges and Elections committees.

Although gerrymandering is as old as the republic — Gov. Patrick Henry once tried unsuccessfully to gerrymander James Madison out of a congressional seat — critics long have complained that legislators drawing up their own districts is an inherent conflict of interest that limits competition in the political process.

In 2007, the last state Senate election, 17 incumbent senators were unopposed. In 2009, 31 members of the House of Delegates had no opposition.

Democrats have tried in recent years to create a bipartisan redistricting commission, but the attempt has been defeated in the GOP-controlled House Privileges and Elections Committee.

This year the League of Women Voters of Virginia, in cooperation with several other groups, sponsored a redistricting competition among college students. McDonnell, who endorsed bipartisan redistricting when running for governor, appointed a bipartisan advisory commission.

How much attention the legislators pay to the proposed new lines remains an open question.

Sen. Janet D. Howell, D-Fairfax, chairwoman of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, said last week that "we'd love to work with the groups, but their plans are coming way late in the process."

Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, who is in charge of redistricting in the House, said the House "welcomes citizen input." He pointed out that both bodies will be holding public hearings around the state this week to solicit input.

But the fact that the two bodies are expected to introduce bills in advance of the public hearings and before the McDonnell commission introduces its final report would appear to indicate the legislators already have drawn up plans.

A spokesman for McDonnell indicated that he would not try to use the independent commission as leverage.

"He appointed the members, but they are acting on their own," communications director Tucker Martin said. "They will pass their ideas on to the General Assembly for consideration, and the governor will await the plans passed by the General Assembly before taking any actions."

Because of a history of racial discrimination, Virginia is governed by the federal Voting Rights Act. It requires the state to create, when possible, districts where minorities are the majority.

The 2001 General Assembly created 12 House of Delegates districts with a black majority, five in the state Senate and one in the House of Representatives.

The McDonnell commission has identified a 13th potential black-majority district in the House and sixth potential black-majority district in the Senate, both in the Norfolk-Suffolk area, but it stopped short of endorsing the new districts.

Whichever plans are adopted are likely to be challenged in court.

In 2001, 24 Democratic legislators and 22 other residents sued. After the 2001 elections, a Roanoke circuit judge ruled that the Republican-written redistricting plans did not meet constitutional standards to be compact and contiguous.

Republicans appealed, and the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the new lines in 2002.

twhitley@timesdispatch.com

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