Here’s my Storify collection on Wednesday’s legislative redistricting news:
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Category Archives: Tennessee State Elections
Redistricting: wrangling and rustling
If you can imagine someone more excited than Steve Martin’s immortal character in the classic film The Jerk, when he announces the arrival of the new phone books, well—that’s me, with regard to new district maps. I’ll keep updating this post throughout the evening (update: putting my thoughts, and yours, into a Storify story in a different post), but for now here are some quick links to pages that house the maps themselves.
Tennessee House of Representatives (see under heading Redistricting Legislation)
Tennessee Senate (see under heading Redistricting Legislation and Maps)
Hamilton County Senate districts
Hamilton County House districts
Please note: these are proposed district lines, and have not been finalized nor approved by the General Assembly. But they are arguably close, for the most part, to the versions that will be enacted.
Bell, Bo, Bilbo, Berke, and Bradley
Sen. Mike Bell (R-Riceville) rebutted claims by Cleveland, Tenn. attorney Jim Bilbo that splitting Bradley County between an eastwardly expanded 10th senatorial district and the 9th would weaken the county’s influence in Nashville. Bell cited his past House experience, when he served part of Monroe County, as evidence:
“Every time an issue came up with TDEC, TDOT or the County Commission passed a resolution, they had two representatives speaking for them in Nashville,” he said. “Anytime we had a meeting in Nashville, they had two representatives there.”
But is that assuming that their votes don’t cancel each other out? Say, for instance, that Sen. Andy Berke still held the 10th and Bell the 9th, and both represented Bradley. Well, look no further than Hamilton County, Bell says, which today is split between Berke, a Democrat, and Sen. Bo Watson, the Republican Speaker Pro Tempore.
“When it comes to local issues, economic issues or road issues, even Berke and Watson get along,” he said. “I’m sure they don’t agree a lot on political issues, but when it comes to local issues … when it comes to economic development issues, even Berke and Watson get along on those. It’s the political issues when you have people of different parties who might not get along.
In any case, despite Bilbo’s begging, it looks somewhat likely that Bradley County will have one senator representing its northern half, and another representing the southern.
Bradley is a fighting vehicle
The Cleveland Daily Banner reports that Bradley County could be split between multiple Senate districts by Republican legislators seeking to maximize their party’s electoral advantages statewide.
One redistricting scenario apparently under consideration by Republicans would split Bradley County into two state senatorial districts in a move potentially aimed at wresting the 10th Senatorial District away from Sen. Andy Berke, the Democratic incumbent.
As the article points out, the Tennessee Constitution states, in Article II, Section 6:
In a district composed of two or more counties, each county shall adjoin at least one other county of such district; and no county shall be divided in forming such a district.
We’ll have to wait until the General Assembly starts its session to see which scenario made the final maps.
A question worth asking is whether Democrats regret any of their redistricting practices during the past, oh, century and a half, now that the the proverbial shoe is on the other foot and appears to be kicking them pretty hard. An idealist may wish the GOP would play nice now that they have the pen, but anyone who understands human nature at all could have predicted this backlash.
GOP aspirants eye East Hamilton prize
Although redistricting plans have not yet been made fully public in Tennessee, a few potential candidates in Hamilton County have begun the arduous process of cautiously staking out what they believe (likely on good authority) will be new territory: an open Tennessee House of Representatives district in the eastern part of the county. Given the demographic makeup of the area, such a district would almost certainly be solidly Republican.
Among those the grapevine suggests might be interested are Mike Carter, a former General Sessions Judge, assistant to former County Mayor Claude Ramsey, and 2011 candidate to replace Ramsey; Wes Kliner, an attorney and former election commissioner; Ray Minner, an educator whose political forays include twice narrowly missing being elected to the Collegedale City Commission; and Robin Smith, former Tennessee Republican Party chair and 2010 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. (It’s not clear whether the new district boundaries would include Smith’s residence; and she is still reportedly deciding whether a rematch with U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann is her 2012 focus.)
Attempts to confirm these and other active rumors are underway, and updates will be posted as more information becomes available. In the meantime, let me be clear that the above is simply hearsay at the moment, and is not intended as breaking news. It’s just what we sometimes like to talk about here.
UPDATE 11/23: Robin Smith does not live in the proposed new district, so strike her from the list. Also, there is another potential candidate—more to come.