McKinney to help draw state’s new political map
The group of lawmakers who will draw up Connecticut’s new political maps have picked a new tiebreaking member following the resignation of their first choice for the post.
During a brief meeting Tuesday, the state Reapportionment Commission accepted the resignation of Kevin Johnston, of Pomfret, a former state auditor and Democratic state lawmaker who they appointed to the position less than a month ago. State President Pro Temp Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said by phone Tuesday that Johnston resigned for personal health reasons.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the commission unanimously appointed John McKinney, a former Senate Republican minority leader who ran for governor in 2014, to replace Johnston. Both Democrats and Republicans described McKinney as evenhanded and an experienced former lawmaker who would take the responsibility seriously. McKinney did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.
Due to delays to the 2020 Census process, the commission faces a tight deadline to draw new state House, state Senate and U.S. House of Representatives districts to match new Census maps that showed a shift of population to the western half of the state. If not completed by Nov. 30, the process goes to the state Supreme Court.
Commission members have stressed they intend to fulfill their constitutional obligation and meet the deadline — hopefully without having to rely on the tiebreaking vote.
“We’d like to accomplish our goals without needing to go to the ninth person,” House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said by phone Tuesday.
With the latest Census showing population growth in Fairfield County and a decline in eastern Connecticut, changes to the political boundaries are likely to be concentrated in those areas, Candelora said. Lawmakers have been meeting behind the scenes discussing various map proposals.
Fairfield County has several districts that are geographically close together and over-populated, complicating the map-making process, Looney said. The goal is for each state senator to represent about 100,000 people and each state representative to represent about 23,000 constituents.
“It’s like putting a puzzle together,” Looney said.
The commission is also weighing input provided by the public at a series of hearings held around the state earlier this fall on what the maps should look like heading into the 2022 elections.