The Washington State Redistricting Commission completed its work at 9:55 p.m. on December 31, a full 125 minutes before the process would be taken on by the Washington Supreme Court.
I have been worried. All of the early proposals (save one, a very rare shoutout from me to Slade Gorton!) would have created a very bizarre, conservative district connecting my rural Snohomish home with all the like-minded people of Wenatchee and Yakima and the long imagined Freedom County. In the end rural King County was awarded this cross-mountain, cross-divide district. Instead I will move from the 2nd Congressional District (incumbent Rick Larsen, who keeps “urban” Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom county) into the 1st Congressional District (incumbent Jay Inslee running for Governor instead). Basically upper east side and everything up to the Canadian border this side of the Cascade crest. Will be interesting to see the mix of candidates that emerge. Both the Republicans and Democrats on the commission call this arguably the most “balanced” district in the U.S. Good for them…
All of this saved me with respect to my state legislative district. I remain in the somewhat rational 44th instead of being popped out to the 39th with loonies like Val Stevens.
Be forewarned if you visit the commission’s web: the pdf maps are horrible. You will only figure out where you are by downloading the Google Earth layers and zooming in…
Stance and Balance 