Redistricting: what if VA looked like this?

National, Politics, Virginia 1 Minute

This map (click to enlarge) surfaced yesterday as a potential way the Congressional districts in Virginia could be drawn. The alignment shows that there could be a second black majority district in Virginia.

I’m hearing that such a map is doable – except a certain Democratic Congressman is blocking the attempt, even though said Congressman remains protected under this plan.

Despite the fact that incumbent protection shouldn’t even be considered in redistricting, the last thing you’d expect is that a Democrat would hold up a plan that not only opens the door for a second minority district but also changes the makeup of an assured 8-3 Republican majority Virginia Congressional delegation to a little more palatable 7-4.

Or is he a Byrd Democrat? You know – the kind that are Democrats when in Virginia and Republicans the rest of the time. If that’s the case, why not just make his district Republican-majority?

Geez. And folks wonder why people hate politics.

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41 thoughts on “Redistricting: what if VA looked like this?”

  2. Which congressman? Frankly I dont like the map though-way too gerrymandered. Not that the others I’ve seen have been much better.

    1. The premise, is of course, that one must be of a particular race or gender to represent those constituents.

      For example, Bobby Scott, using this line of thinking, only represents the Negro population of his district, while those of other races and genders receive no representation. In the White districts, they are of course expected to shamelessly pander to every non-White group, and the representative is expected to, continuously apologize for his or her gene pool of origin.

      It is a source of constant amazement to me, how Blacks do not seem to want to see race based districts or race-based caucuses, as inherently racists behaviors; yet if Whites or Asians were to demand race majority districts, this sort of idea would generally be seen as coming from the Ku Klux Klan.

      The members of the Legislative Black Caucus probably want their motto to be, “It ain’t racist if WE do it!”

      Race based politics, regardless of who plays the card, is just another form of repugnant racism.

      We need to do away with all reference to race on personnel, government and school records. To refer to any American as anything but CITIZEN, should be considered an affront to the Republic.

      2. So sad Mr Ballance, that you are ignorant of the basic history of the United States. Your own history. Our history. I know they don’t teach the details in school but maybe do yourself a favor: Go watch the documentary Eyes on the Prize. Until you at least do that you should keep your ignorance private. It’s shameful and embarrassing.

      3. this is outrageous!! i am white and at no point has my representative Whitman even cam close to considering my point of view or even listened. The white representatives in their districts do not give a damn about their minority constituents nor about their white constitutents unless we see the world as they do. Mr. Ballance if the white world awhile back had just considered people as people then we would not have to go before justice and have a plan that requires a minority district. The powers to be back then however refused to accept that there were humna beings that could think, walk, and talk just like them and thus were entitled under the constitution to representation.

      2. I just ran some numbers. There are 79 majority-minority congressional districts. Democrats hold 193 seats in the House. That leaves 114 majority White districts held by Democrats. Of those 114, five are held by Blacks.

        Now, assuming 90% of Blacks are Democrats (the typical voting pattern), and that half of them are packed into majority-minority districts (a big assumption, and I will need to research it, but I don’t have time now) 5.4% of the democrats in majority-White districts are Black. To have proportional representation in Congress, they would need SIX Blacks from those districts, instead of the FIVE they have.

        It seems that the assertion that White Democrats will not vote for Blacks is not supported by those numbers.

        (If anyone cares, Blacks make up about 1.2% of the Republican voters. If half of those are also in majority-minority districts, then one would expect fewer than two Black Republicans in Congress. There are TWO. It seems that White Republicans will also vote for Blacks.)

    3. …One issue that probably needs to be addressed in answering this question is that there are geographically majority-black areas of this state, in the last redistricting they were all drawn up into CD3. Not only was it the most bizarrely-shaped congressional district in Commonwealth, but it was also the largest by far in terms of total population.

      That’s never really set right with me — it meant that regardless of race, every single voter in Bobby Scott’s district was afforded proportionally less representation in the U.S. House of Representatives than any single voter in any other Congressional district in Virginia.

      It is therefore only right and proper, in my mind, to shrink CD3 and reapportion some of that area to another Congressional District. And unless you are going to go out of your way to split the south side of Richmond between two or three majority-white Congressional districts (sidenote: have you ever noticed that no one ever asks “what’s the point of majority-white Congressional Districts?) it will necessarily create a new district which will happen to be majority black.

  5. Amherst and Nelson are in a district with the Shenandoah Valley. We have nothing in common with them, except the mountains that divide us. We are in and a part of Central Virginia, not the Valley.

    1. I agree. I live in Western Albemarle, just 15 minutes from Waynesboro, but have more in common in Batesville with folks from Lovingston than the Valley.

    5. Have you seen the CURRENT VA-3 District?

      It’s a joke. There is no way to drive between the four sections without going through another district. That is, by definition, not contiguous, and therefore a clear violation of congressional redistricting standards.

      1 district, 11 Congressmen, 11 votes. Cast them any way you like. There are so many benefits to such a system.

  6. Other than the fact that Rigell and Forbes are paired the GOP shouldn’t have a problem with this map. I guess Bobby does but I don’t know why. The new 3rd would be a great district for him.

  7. Are you saying that a white democrat Congressman is objecting to his district becoming a majority Black district with a Black Congressman? Yet he is somehow protected? That doesn’t quite make sense to me. It must be Jim Moran or Gerry Connolly since those are the only two other democrats. I’m not seeing the scenario that you are describing without one of them giving up his seat since they are both white.

  8. Oops, I just got it. If Moran is not going to run again, then it could work. It would be Connolly who is objecting to Moran’s district becoming the second Black District in Virginia.

    I don’t think the numbers of Blacks in NOVA could constitute a second Black district. Perhaps a minority district, dominated by Asians and Hispanics. There just aren’t large Black communities in NOVA. Are there?

  9. Actually, the offensive part is that you support something because it adds a Democratic seat.

    For all your bipartisan redistricting platitudes, you’re just like all the other partisans.

  10. This retains the “Gerry-mander” in the 11th from the plan the congressmen reportedly all agreed to. So is Moran the one who doesn’t like it?

  11. BK: no she supports it because it adds an African-American seat. Republicans can compete for the African-American vote, right? Folks at BD are always reminding us that more Republicans than Democrats voted for the 1964 Civil Rights bill.

  12. Steve, I’m sure Vivian would appreciate your not putting words in her mouth.

    What she wrote is that it “changes the makeup of an assured 8-3 Republican majority Virginia Congressional delegation to a little more palatable 7-4.”

  13. The one who doesn’t like it, I’ve been told, is Gerry Connolly. No idea why, since his district is still protected.

    The district that would become majority-minority is the 4th.

    @BK – I absolutely deplore partisan redistricting. But it’s what we have. And as along as the Republican-controlled House of Delegates refuses to do anything but, we will continue to have it. So if there is a better alternative that provides the opportunity for more voices of the people to be heard, then I’m for it. And Republican or Democrat standing in the way, I’m going to make sure that others are aware.

    @Lovettsville Lady – sorry for the delay in your posts showing up – since this was the first time you posted here, they needed approval.

    2. Maybe Connolly thinks Republicans would rethink the sweet deal they gave him in the incumbent protection plan if he supported a plan that strips away one of their seats.

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