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Virginia House delegation protects itself
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Mar 14, 2011 09:50am |
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| Category | Announcement |
| Author | Richard E. Cohen |
| News Date | Monday, March 14, 2011 01:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Members of Virginia’s House delegation unanimously agreed to a redistricting plan that will protect all of their seats and strengthen the three GOP freshmen who ousted Democratic incumbents last November, POLITICO has learned.
The new map, according to multiple sources in both parties who are familiar with the plan, was crafted in the past month chiefly by Virginia’s eight GOP members. But it has received crucial private support from the state’s three House Democrats — notably Rep. Gerry Connolly, who barely survived reelection last November and whose Capitol Beltway-area district would get a Democratic bump.
The delegation is hoping for legislative approval in three weeks when the politically divided General Assembly convenes a special session.
“It’s an incumbent plan, not a Republican plan,” said former GOP Rep. Tom Davis, who retired as Connolly’s predecessor in 2008. “Republicans have locked in their eight seats. Democrats get Connolly’s seat.”
The incumbent-protection scheme clearly serves Republican interests, though at the cost of weakening the party’s hand in defeating Connolly in Democratic-leaning Northern Virginia, where population growth has made it more difficult for the GOP to defeat him in any case.
The map also reflects the balance of power in Richmond — where Democrats retain leverage with their 22-18 control of the Senate and Republicans have a solid majority in the House of Delegates and easily won the governor’s office with Bob McDonnell in 2009.
In a state where Democrats held six of 11 House seats in 2000 as well as a year ago — and in which Barack Obama won 53 percent to 46 percent in the 2008 presidential election — the bipartisan deal is a win for House Republicans as they seek to secure their new majority in Congress.
“Taking these seats off the table makes control of the House stronger for them,” Davis said. |
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