Area officials disagree on redrawing of maps
‘There were a lot of rumors floating around’
Local officials fall along party lines on whether or not the Republican-created district maps were gerrymandered, but they agree that the First Congressional district will likely maintain its Democratic hold.
On Tuesday, state Republicans released the House and Congressional district maps, which political analysts say will likely preserve the 7-2 Republican control of the Congressional seats and the commanding 71-29 Republican majority in the House.
Every 10 years, following the census, states are given the opportunity to redraw electoral district lines. The political party with the majority within the state leads the effort and experts say it is common for the majority party to redraw the lines in their political party’s favor, known as gerrymandering.
In August, state legislators held a two-day public hearing redistricting tour aimed at gathering input from voters. A hearing was held in Valparaiso, where residents shared their frustration with the fact that maps weren’t presented to the public ahead of time so they could give input.
State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster, issued a statement earlier this week calling for an end to “the political stranglehold the
supermajority currently has over the (redistricting) process.”
The strategy used to “crack and pack” minority communities means their votes “cannot property influence an election,” Andrade said. The maps will determine the next 10 years of lawmaking, he said.
“We must fight gerrymandering on many fronts, as there are many deceitful tactics used to carve out power for one political party,” Andrade said. “To use this tactic to silence any voice is to undermine the very democracy that this nation was founded on.”
The Congressional district map shows that the first district will now stretch further into LaPorte County. The House map mostly maintained the region’s House districts, though some officials raised concern with the 15th and 19th House districts.
U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, said in a statement that he was pleased that Republican leadership kept Northwest Indiana together because it is a community of interest.
“Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties share not just the shoreline of Lake Michigan, but there are also rich cultural and diverse populations who share interests in industry, manufacturing, educational institutions, civic organizations and transportation infrastructure,” Mrvan said.
Lake County Democratic Party Chairman James Wieser said he was pleased to see that the First Congressional District remained largely the same because it maintains a community of interest together, which is what voters and Democratic officials wanted.
“There were a lot of rumors floating around and a lot of thought that the maps would reflect a real change in the First Congressional District demographics and that just didn’t occur for the most part,” Wieser said.
Wieser said it’s likely that Republicans decided they “would rather strengthen” the Second Congressional District to the east and the Fourth Congressional District to the south “rather than run the risk of dramatically changing the First Congressional District and that perhaps negatively impacting the other two.”
“That’s my guess. I certainly know they don’t do it out of the goodness of their heart,” Wieser said.
While elections are “always concerning,” given the strong Democratic representation in the past from former U.S. Reps. Ray Maddon, Adam Benjamin through former U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky and now Mrvan, Wieser said he isn’t too concerned about the seat flipping.
“They’re such good public servants that I feel very confident that we we’re going to be just fine,” Wieser said.
Porter County Republican Chairman Michael Simpson said Republicans did “a good job as they could” to create the First Congressional District map.
Simpson said he is pleased that Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties, as areas along the Lake Michigan shoreline, are grouped together as communities of interest.
“I’m just grateful there wasn’t wild gerrymandering to shift the district,” Simpson said.
Wieser said the Republicans likely viewed the census data differently when drawing the House maps because of Lake County’s population shift. The northern part of the county saw a population decrease, while the southern part of the county saw a population increase, he said.
Overall, Wieser said he’s glad Lake County Democrats didn’t lose a House seat because “there was some thought that there might be a House district that might go away,” but that didn’t happen.
But, Wieser said he noticed shifts in the 15th District, which make another Democratic district stronger, and the 19th District, which will likely boost Republican votes there.
In the 15th District, Republicans took four strong Democratic precincts in Schererville and put two in the 12th District and two into the 14th District, Wieser said.
The two additional precincts in the 14th District further solidifies incumbent Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, hold on the district, Wieser said.
“I think that was by design,” Wieser said.
The 19th District was extended further east into Porter County, a Republican area, “which will create a bigger challenge for any Democratic candidate that is going to run in that district,” Wieser said.
“I know their justification for that, I’m sure, will be ‘well we had to adjust for the population loss in the north and so we had to extend the district father to the south to pick up the number of required voters in a district,’ ” Wieser said.
But, Wieser said what Republicans did was pick their voters, which goes against what residents called for during the redistricting process.
As a whole, the maps “are as good as I think we could’ve expected,” Wieser said. But, this redistricting process was still gerrymandered, Wieser said, which is why the maps should be drawn by an independent group or by a bipartisan commission.
“Given the partisan nature of our politics ... (the maps are) tolerable and livable. We’re just going to have to work hard to be successful at it,” Wieser said.
Simpson said the maps were created based on federal and state election laws. The maps are not gerrymandered, he said.
“Everybody wants to accuse everybody of something,” Simpson said. “They did their level best to keep communities of interest together.”