In wake of Supreme Court ruling, WA Democrats weigh congressional redistricting options

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court sharply limited the consideration of race when drawing legislative boundaries, allowing Louisiana to redraw its congressional map in time for this year’s midterm elections.

The ruling follows other mid-decade redistricting efforts in predominantly red states, such as Texas, Missouri and North Carolina. Democratic-led states including California and more recently Virginia have also taken action to change boundaries.

For over two decades, Washington has relied on an independent redistricting commission — as opposed to state legislators — to draw district lines.

Last week, Washington State Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad suggested to the New York Times that if her party secures a legislative supermajority, lawmakers may undo this system, a change that would require voter approval.

In an interview with the Standard this week, Conrad clarified that she doesn’t want to end Washington’s Redistricting Commission, and blamed Republicans for igniting the current redistricting war.

“I am not pushing for us to undo the independent redistricting system,” Conrad said. “But there’s a national discussion that is happening around how to meet the moment … The Republican-controlled Supreme Court just gutted the Voting Rights Act.”

”We’re having to fight fire with fire,” Conrad added.

Rep. Jim Walsh, who is also chair of the Washington State Republican Party, doesn’t buy it that Democrats will attempt to meddle with district boundaries.

“She’s bluffing,” Walsh said of Conrad’s comments to the Times.

Walsh also argued that redoing Washington’s map to comply with the Supreme Court ruling in the Louisiana case “would make Washington congressional districts more fair and cut against Washington Democrats’ partisan schemes.”

‘This is that moment’

Reconvening the state’s bipartisan Redistricting Commission mid-decade would require a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature.

Democrats would need to flip seven seats in the House and three in the Senate this election season to gain enough votes for the next session in January, while retaining every seat they have now.

The other option, scrapping or revamping the redistricting commission, doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon. That, too, would require a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature to approve a constitutional amendment and it would also need to go before voters.

If Democrats pick up enough seats in both chambers this election year, “it might be possible for us to present the voters with the question around whether Washington should join California and Virginia in fighting back against the rigging of maps for the Republicans,” said House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle.

“We’ve had elections where Democrats picked up that many seats before, but that is a pretty steep hill to climb,” Fitzgibbon added.

Fitzgibbon sponsored legislation this year that would’ve changed the state constitution to allow lawmakers to redraw district maps with a simple majority vote, but only if other states engage in mid-cycle redistricting, like what’s going on now. It didn’t advance out of committee.

“If there’s ever a moment for us to revisit how we draw these congressional lines in Washington, this is that moment,” Fitzgibbon added. “We have some significant barriers to clear before we can engage in that.”

The last round of redistricting was in 2021 and the redistricting commission is not scheduled to convene again until 2031.

Democrats now hold eight of Washington’s 10 seats in the U.S. House. Only one of those districts, the 3rd, in southwest Washington, has been a consistent battleground for Democrats and Republicans in recent years.

Fitzgibbon said it’s possible to redraw lines so there’s a district in central and eastern Washington that would be competitive for Democrats if it included Spokane, Pullman, Walla Walla and parts of Yakima and Tri-Cities.

Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, called the idea of redistricting mid-decade “a little far-fetched” and “definitely not a solution for the short term.” He also explained Democrats are unlikely to win the needed seats this year.

“There is no reasonable possibility that we could wind up with that many seats in the Senate in this election cycle,” Pedersen said.

But with the recent ruling, he did point out there could be a wave of redistricting in the South that would benefit Republicans.

“Washington has become more and more solidly a blue state,” Pedersen said. “If the future is one in which every state that is not a swing state is going to be monochromatic in its congressional delegation, then we should think about how we want to show up.”

Legislative district do over?

The Supreme Court ruling also raises questions about whether Washington’s legislative district map will remain as is.

Two years after the four voting members of Washington’s Redistricting Commission updated the state’s district maps, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik ordered districts for the state Legislature to be redrawn.

In Palmer v. Hobbs, Lasnik ruled that a Yakima Valley district did not allow equal access for Latino voter participation.

In early 2024, Lasnik approved the district’s new boundaries with Latinos comprising 73% of the total population. Shortly after, another appeal was filed.

Walsh suggested that with the Supreme Court decision, the revised map could be unconstitutional.

Walsh said if the Republican party had more time, it would go to court to challenge the map that the Palmer v. Hobbs case created, but he said the party is busy as candidate filing started this week for the midterms.

He said the party may do something in support of an existing appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, such as file a friend of the court brief. “We just want to make sure it doesn’t mess up the existing litigation,” he said.

For now, Conrad said Democrats are focused on getting out the vote.

“I don’t know if we will get to a supermajority this year. I think it’s very likely that we could get there by 2028,” she added.

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