Lawmakers using census data to redraw political districts will try to avoid pitting incumbents against each other, says state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, a Slidell Republican.
Hewitt chairs her chamber’s governmental affairs committee and will be a key voice in the once-a-decade redistricting process.
“Where we can avoid it, we’re not going to put two incumbents in the same district,” Hewitt says, adding that the principle has been tested in court and found to be a legitimate factor for redistricting.
Similarly, they’re going to try not to redraw anyone out of their current district, she says, which easily could happen because some live near the edge of their district.
“I think incumbency is going to be a major determinant [for redistricting],” says Robert Travis Scott, president of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana. “It always is and will be.”
Using incumbency as a factor is not necessarily a terrible thing, Scott adds. While incumbency shouldn’t entirely override other concerns, he says, it’s reasonable to say that voters might value an incumbent’s experience and relationship with their community.
Hewitt says legislators will start with the districts as they are now and work from there. That approach could prove tricky when dealing with north Louisiana’s two sprawling congressional districts, which have shed population and can only be extended south in anything resembling their current incarnations.
Congressional districts’ populations are supposed to be as equal as possible, while legislative and Public Service Commission districts can deviate as much as 5% from the median, notes Evan Bergeron with Fair Districts Louisiana.
There are myriad factors that can be considered during redistricting that may sound good in the abstract but may conflict in practice. A compact district might not be competitive, for example.
And it’s hard in Louisiana to measure how competitive a proposed district will be because many nominal Democrats often vote for Republicans, Scott says.
Hewitt says she won’t know what factors will be most important to her until she hears what local voters have to say during the upcoming redistricting “roadshow.”
“There’s an infinite number of ways you can map the same data,” she says. “They’re all going to have strengths and weaknesses probably, and it will be the decision of the legislative members as to which map they think is the best.”
"avoid it" - Google News
September 22, 2021 at 10:15PM
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Redistricting goal: Keeping incumbent state legislators from running against one another - Greater Baton Rouge Business Report
"avoid it" - Google News
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