Democrats Unveil Proposed Congressional District Maps
Submitted by Nevada News Bureau on Thu, 05/05/2011 - 1:39pm
State legislative Republicans released this plan for Nevada's four congressional districts last week. Nevada earned one more representative to Congress as a result of population growth between 2000 and 2010. Please click here to see Clark County districts 1 and 4.
By Andrew Doughman
CARSON CITY — Democrats today unveiled proposed boundaries for Nevada’s four congressional districts, the political consequences of which they will debate this afternoon at the Legislature.
In the game of shifting political power, the Democrats say their congressional redistricting proposal creates three competitive districts with one northern and rural Nevada district leaning Republican.
Their plan could make Congressional District 3 less safe for Republican Representative Joe Heck, the current incumbent who won by a slim margin over Democratic candidate Dina Titus during 2010.
Democrats also say that their proposal is more fair to Nevada’s Hispanic population. The Democratic proposal offers Hispanics no majority-minority district in Clark County as was the case with a Republican congressional district proposal released last week. Rather, the Democratic maps show a Latino population dispersed throughout several Clark County districts.
The question of the Latino vote has become a major fight between Republicans and Democrats.
Democrats would like to establish “minority influence” districts where ethnic minority populations comprise an influential voting bloc in several districts.
Republicans argue that Nevada should have a majority-minority “opportunity” district because 26 percent of the state’s population is Hispanic and therefore one of the state’s four congressional districts should be majority Hispanic.
The Democratic plan represents the last piece of Republican and Democratic legislative district proposals. Democrats and Republicans released last week their proposals for state Assembly and Senate districts.
Republicans say their congressional district proposals offer two districts likely to elect Democrats and two districts likely to elect Republican candidates.
Republican Proposed Congressional Districts
District
Population
Deviation
GOP%
DEM%
HVAP%
BVAP%
Total Hispanic%
CD 01
675,138
0
32.0%
45.5%
17.7%
9.9%
20.6%
CD 02
675,138
0
42.8%
35.7%
16.6%
1.9%
20.4%
CD 03
675,138
0
40.8%
37.5%
12.2%
5.5%
14.4%
CD 04
675,137
-1
20.8%
57.8%
44.3%
14.2%
50.7%
The Republican and Democratic plans represent two different takes in what could be a lengthy process to hammer out a compromise between a Republican governor and a Democratic-controlled Legislature. If the two parties cannot reach a compromise, the drawing of political districts could end up in the hands of Nevada’s judges.
State legislative Republicans released this plan for Nevada's four congressional districts last week. Nevada earned one more representative to Congress as a result of population growth between 2000 and 2010. Please click here to see Clark County districts 1 and 4.Nevada’s state legislators must redraw political district boundaries every 10 years after the U.S. Census Bureau releases updated population and demographic statistics. Nevada’s explosive population growth between 2001 and 2010 earned Nevada one more Congressional District, giving Nevada four Congressional Districts.
All districts must be nearly the same size. Map drawers use the U.S. Census total population figures for Nevada and divide those by the number of districts so that each district has an ideal size. The ideal size for a Congressional district is 675,000 people.
