Redistricting may change Congressional races

Maricopa will move into a new Congressional district next year if the preliminary redistricting map put forth by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Thursday is adopted.

The city would move from Congressional district 1, represented by Democrat Tom O’Halleran, into District 2 which currently is represented by Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick, who has stated she will not seek re-election. The district covers an enormous geographic area, stretching from just west of Maricopa to the New Mexico border on the east, and all the way to Utah in the north. It extends west to include Flagstaff, Williams, and Prescott.

The southernmost portion of the current district, including Oro Valley and Saddlebrooke, will be moved into District 6, which includes Tucson and southeastern Arizona.

The draft District 2 has a total population of 795,000, with 626,000 of those being of voting age.

The five-member commission adopted the draft maps after a full day of meetings in Phoenix as part of the process to re-draw congressional districts every 10 years to reflect the populations identified in the census.  The public now has 30 days to comment on the draft maps. the commission is required by law to have a final map to the state legislature by Jan. 2, 2022.

The commission’s goal is to have final maps for the state by Dec. 22, but by law they must have them done by Jan. 2. It was widely believed that Arizona would add a congressional seat based on the 2020 census, but the state’s population did not reach the threshold for adding another seat.