At least ten states progressed in either proposing, advancing, or enacting new congressional and state legislative district maps as part of the 2020 redistricting cycle between Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, 2021.
Proposed
Alabama: On Oct. 25, state Rep. Chris England (D) released Alabama’s first congressional and state legislative draft maps via Twitter. The following day, the state’s joint redistricting committee met to discuss the proposals, which passed through the committee without any changes.
England criticized the lack of publicly-available information ahead of the hearing, saying, “I fully anticipate this process ending up in the courts somewhere. I mean just off the fact alone that the public … also did not see this information.” Rep. Chris Pringle (R) said, “You will have time in both before a House and Senate standing committee to fully vet and look at these bills.”
View the draft proposals here.
Georgia: The state House and Senate Democratic Caucuses released a draft congressional map plan on Oct. 21. According to a press release from the Democratic Party of Georgia, the proposed map would create seven Democratic-leaning districts and seven Republican-leaning districts. Democrats currently hold six districts and Republicans hold eight.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Maya Prabhu and Tia Mitchell wrote, “Since the Legislature is controlled by Republicans, it’s highly unlikely the Democrats’ proposal will have any influence on the process when lawmakers begin a special session Nov. 3.”
This is the second congressional map proposal released in the state. Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) and Senate Redistricting Chairman John Kennedy (R) released the first proposal on Sept. 27.
View the proposed map here.
Illinois: State legislative Democrats released a revised congressional map draft on Oct. 23, shifting district lines from their initial proposal released on Oct. 15.
Under the revised proposal, the following pairs of incumbents would be drawn into the same district, resulting in the possibility of contested primaries in 2022:
- U.S. Reps. Marie Newman (D) and Sean Casten (D)
- U.S. Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R) and Darin LaHood (R)
- U.S. Reps. Mary Miller (R) and Mike Bost (R)
Additionally, according to the Associated Press, under the revised map, “a proposed congressional district would connect Latino populations [around Chicago] for a second Latino-leaning district, in addition to the one currently represented by U.S. Rep. Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia.”
Due to population decline, Illinois was apportioned 17 congressional districts following the 2020 census, down from 18 after the 2010 census.
View the proposed map here.
Iowa: The state’s Legislative Services Agency (LSA) delivered its second package of congressional and state legislative redistricting proposals to the state legislature on Oct. 21. The legislature scheduled a special session to vote on these maps for Oct. 28.
The LSA released its first draft maps on Sept. 16, which the Iowa State Senate voted 32-18 along party lines to reject on Oct. 5.
If legislators reject the LSA’s second draft, the agency must create a third and final draft. If the legislature rejects the third draft, it would then approve its own maps. Since the implementation of this process in 1980, the legislature has always chosen an LSA proposal.
View the proposed map here.
Montana: The Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission released two new draft congressional map proposals on Oct. 21 after Chairwoman Maylinn Smith expressed disapproval over the nine proposals released on Oct. 5.
Due to population gain, Montana was apportioned two congressional districts following the 2020 census for the first time since 1980.
View the proposals here.
North Carolina: The Senate and House Redistricting Committees released their respective proposals for state legislative and congressional maps. Both committees released one state legislative proposal. The Senate committee released five proposed congressional maps while the House committee released one.
View the proposals here.
Wisconsin: Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) introduced congressional and state legislative map proposals on Oct. 20, the same day the state’s People’s Map Commission released revised versions of its map proposals. The commission, created by Gov. Tony Evers (D) in a Jan. 27, 2020, executive order, may propose maps, but the legislature is under no obligation to accept the recommendations.
In Wisconsin, both congressional and state legislative maps are drawn by the state legislature. These lines are subject to veto by the governor. Republicans control both chambers of the legislature in Wisconsin, while Democrats control the governorship.
View the proposals here.
Advanced
New Mexico: On Oct. 20, the New Mexico Citizen Redistricting Committee recommended three House map proposals to the state legislature. The proposals join the two Senate maps recommended on Oct. 15.
This is the first election cycle featuring the Citizen Redistricting Committee, which Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) signed into law on Apr. 6, 2021. Committee proposals are non-binding, meaning the state legislature retains the authority to adopt, amend, or discard the proposed maps as it sees fit.
View the proposals here.
Enacted
Texas and West Virginia enacted new congressional and state legislative maps on Oct. 25 and 22, respectively. They join the four states—Indiana, Maine, Nebraska, and Oregon—that already enacted new congressional district maps.
They also join those four states plus Ohio that already enacted new state legislative maps. Illinois has enacted new state legislative maps, but in an Oct. 19 ruling, a federal court took control of the process and ordered interested parties to submit revisions to the enacted maps with a Nov. 8 deadline.