West Virginia's minor redistricting tweak draws national attention

by: Carnacki

Tue Aug 09, 2011 at 09:26:38 AM EDT

Why didn't the Democratic Legislature tweak the districts to be more favorable to Democratic candidates? The votes weren't there.

"The other plan that we looked at, that would have helped a Democrat in the 1st district, we couldn't get enough Senators to vote for that plan because it affected the counties that they represent," state Senate Majority Whip D. Richard Browning (D) said. "I'm the Whip, and I judged the support for the bill that would have given the Democrats a little better edge in the 1st district" to be lacking, he added, noting he was "a little bit displeased" with the final outcome of the process. He said he had hoped the final map would have made the eastern panhandle of the state whole, instead of leaving it split between the 1st and 2nd districts.

Early on Clem and I had pushed the redistricting plan that was very much like the one that Senator John Unger came up with because it was the one that made the most sense from an obvious, nonpartisan standpoint. Clem and I talked about it and thought if we pushed it, that would make it look like a partisan plan (and it made sense for partisan reasons too. It was a two-fer). WV-02 is a horribly shaped district, the longest east of the Mississippi. The fact that the senators made the minor tweak instead of redrawing the lines is proof you can lead them to an intelligent plan, but you can't make them think.