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Election Day 2010 proved to be an even bigger “wave” election at the state level than anticipated. Republicans flipped at least 19 legislative bodies to Republican control and hold majorities in 10 of the 15 states that will gain or lose U.S. House seats and where the legislature plays a role in redrawing the map.
Republicans have an opportunity to create 20-25 new Republican Congressional Districts through the redistricting process over the next five election cycles, solidifying a Republican House majority.
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From the News Gazette:
Using their supermajority, Senate Democrats pushed their own legislative redistricting plan to victory in the Senate on Wednesday.
But the proposal may have more trouble in the House.
The Democrats needed the vote of virtually every one of their 37 members to approve the constitutional amendment in the Senate.
From the Politico:
While much of Washington is obsessed with the effect of health care reform on the midterm elections, a bigger factor in the future makeup of the House may be the three dozen gubernatorial races on the ballot in November.
That’s because the men and women who gain control of the nation’s governors’ mansions this fall will oversee redistricting, the once-a-decade exercise in redrawing House district lines by legislatures in every state.
With such high stakes, both parties are ramping up to play hard in the gubernatorial races, as well as in the state legislative elections that often run under the national radar. After back-to-back winning cycles, the Democrats have the most to lose. And the Republicans have been building a war chest and recruiting a team of insider all-stars to ensure they do.
The Republican Governors Association, led by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, used redistricting as an issue to help raise $30 million in 2009 and opened this year with $25 million in the bank. The Republican State Leadership Committee, which is dedicated to winning legislative seats, is being spearheaded by former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are also heading organizations aimed at electing state Republicans and influencing the redistricting effort.
Of course, Democrats are not sitting idle. The Democratic Governors Association raised a record $23 million in 2009 and had nearly $18 million in cash in January. Former Bill Clinton adviser Harold Ickes, who has close ties to the party’s big donors, has been tapped to head a new organization called Project Surge — as in stop Republican gerrymandering. And the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which helps state legislative candidates, is also preparing for battle.
“Our donors know that the effects of redistricting are far greater than [the effects of] a typical congressional cycle — these lines, which Republicans promise to draw to give themselves a partisan advantage, will last for the next decade,” said Nathan Daschle, the DGA’s executive director.
From WeeklyStandard.com:
For Republicans, campaign finance reform was a nightmare from which they are only now awakening. After the campaign law, better known as McCain-Feingold, was enacted in 2002, Republicans largely ignored the new possibilities it created for affecting the outcome of elections. When the Supreme Court in 2003 upheld most of the provisions of the law, their apathy continued.
Democrats weren’t so passive. They immediately reacted to the new campaign spending rules by setting up a cluster of organizations outside the party that played an enormous role in the 2004, 2006, and 2008 campaigns. Republicans suffered through the three election cycles without countering the onslaught by the Democratic outfits. The 2006 and 2008 elections produced Democratic landslides.
But 2010 should be different. Spurred by Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, Republicans have matched the Democratic infrastructure with organizations of their own. These groups expect to raise and spend tens of millions in this year’s midterm elections and probably even more in 2012, when President Obama is likely to be running for a second term.
From the AP:
Pennsylvania has added about 324,000 people since the 2000 census, ranking it a very average 21st among states, according to preliminary figures. The 2.6 percent growth rate, however, is among the weakest in the nation.
The commonwealth’s newcomers are concentrated in the Pocono mountains region that straddles Interstate 80 near New Jersey; the suburbs of Philadelphia, particularly booming Chester County; and the south-central Pennsylvania region along the Mason-Dixon Line that runs through Gettysburg, York and Lancaster.
According to the census estimates, Philadelphia has grown by about 2 percent, while Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, has shrunk by nearly 5 percent. Population decline is concentrated in the western counties.
Intriguingly, about half of Pennsylvania’s total estimated growth over the past decade, or some 176,000 people, consists of people who have moved to the state from foreign countries. In terms of state-to-state migration, Pennsylvania has had a net loss of about 40,000 people.
Redistricting goes on in two tracks — one for Congress, the other for the state Legislature.
From Illinois State House News via Fox 55:
The state is scheduled to redraw its legislative districts in 2011. The process – known as redistricting – occurs every ten years and relies on data collected through the federal census the year before.
But the current redistricting procedure has been encumbered by drawn-out partisan battles, legal challenges, and arbitrary draws from a hat.
This session, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have introduced five proposed Constitutional Amendments that would change the redistricting process.
Proposals from both parties share a number of planned changes, such as the de-coupling of Senate and House districts and the establishment of public hearings on redistricting.
But lawmakers are locked in a partisan conflict over who ultimately decides how the state’s legislative map is drawn.