Thread by @paulgraveswa

The four members of the Washington Redistricting Commission released draft Congressional maps today. As with the legislative maps, we each prioritized different values. Mine focused on fair representation and competition. Here's a little thread. #waleg #waelex

At the moment, Washington has one out of 10 Congressional districts where a majority of residents are people of color. Statewide, more than 1/3 of residents are people of color.

While drawing many draft maps, I realized that we could in fact draw two compact, contiguous districts where a majority are people are of color. Here's the first one. It takes the 10th CD from Tacoma up the I-5 corridor to Burien.

Here's the second. It starts in south King County and includes many diverse areas surrounding Lakes Washington & Sammamish. A majority of its citizens of voting-age population are people of color--an important metric for fair maps.

The two districts also offer an important income split. Every city in this proposed 10th CD has a median home income below the state average. Every city (save Kent) in this proposed 9th CD has a median home income above the state average.

Fair representation should be a bipartisan goal. In Washington, with our independent commission, we have the opportunity to adopt that approach and to draw maps that are worthy of our time. Doubling the number of majority-minority districts is possible. We should do it.

My proposed maps also focus on competition. Right now, only one of our 10 districts is competitive (+/- 3% from 50/50 using an average of the 2020 statewide results). This proposed maps adds another, and makes the 3rd CD 0.6% from being a swing district.

Here are each of the proposed Congressional maps by that metric (Red is Republican, blue is Democratic, green is swing).

Washington D.C. is a mess, and a prime reason is that most members of Congress represent safe districts. (Just think about the member of Congress you dislike the most; I'd bet dimes to dollars that person is from a safe district.)

When our representatives are only concerned about a challenge from their party’s base, it’s no surprise that they go to the nation’s capital and spend most of their time yelling at one another and not even pretending to conduct the basic functions of government.

The answer is more competition, and I’m proud of this map for doubling the number of competitive districts in our state.

We have a chance to draw a map that increases representation for people of color and makes for more competitive elections. I think we should do just that. I'm looking forward to spirited and good-faith negotiations with @justjoefain @aprilr_sims, & @BradyWalkinshaw #waleg #waelex