News from Concord: Redistricting Maps
REDISTRICTING MAPS
Every ten years, after the census, every state must redraw its districts to reflect changes in population. In NH, the party in power controls re-districting. The governor twice vetoed attempts to make re-districting a fairer, less-partisan process.
Consequences of redistricting in 2010
Traditional Republicans controlled redistricting in 2010, which led to their legislative dominance last decade; they cut taxes for profitable multi-nationals four times, cut funding for property-poor school districts, stopped revenue sharing with municipalities, all of which led to increasing reliance on property tax from smaller businesses and individuals.
Redistricting: Committee recommendations are due November 18. “Freedom Caucus” members hold 4 of 8 Republican seats that control gerrymandering. Democrats hold 7 seats.
Expectations for redistricting in 2020
This decade, “Freedom Caucus” members hold four of the eight House re-districting committee seats. Redistricting has no impact on statewide elections, such as gubernatorial or US Senate races. House seats are constrained by town and county borders so can be impacted less than NH Senate and Executive Council districts.
Major expectations for redistricting are: The two Congressional districts will be re-drawn so that Congresswoman Kuster’s District 1 is more Democratic, switching as many Republicans as possible to District 2. Since the state is only slightly more Democratic overall, this will guarantee the Republicans one Congressional seat. On the NH Senate front, Democrats are expected to lose two more seats through gerrymandering, making it nearly impossible to ever gain a majority, despite their popular majority. Currently, Manchester wards are divided among three Democratic senators. Instead, Manchester will be compressed into two senate districts, so that Goffstown and other surrounding suburbs can combine into an additional Republican seat. Similarly, Rye is expected to be removed from the 24th district and combined with Portsmouth in the 21st to get rid of Democratic Senator Dr. Tom Sherman. If other districts remain similarly gerrymandered as now, Democrats will have to win massively to gain a legislative majority.
