The proposed congressional map from the West Virginia Senate Redistricting Committee, led by Chair Charles Trump (R-Morgan, 15), has been announced.
On Monday, Oct. 11, during a special legislative session, a map titled “Trump-Congressional Map #11” was selected to move before the full Senate for consideration.
Following West Virginia’s population loss after the 2020 census, the state lost a congressional seat. This means that West Virginia’s three congressional districts, currently led by David B. McKinley (R-District 1), Alex Mooney (R-District 2) and Carol Miller (R-District 3), must be broken into only two districts.
Committee members had to decide if the state’s two congressional districts would follow a north/south pattern or an east/west pattern. This proposed map #11 bisects the state into a northern district and a southern district.
The northern district (one) would include Barbour, Berkeley, Brooke, Doddridge, Hampshire, Grant, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jefferson, Lewis, Marion, Marshall, Mineral, Monongalia, Morgan, Ohio, Pendleton, Pleasants, Preston, Randolph, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur, Wetzel, and Wood counties.
The southern district (two) would include Boone, Braxton, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Greenbrier, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Putnam, Raleigh, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Wayne, Webster, Wirt, and Wyoming.
District one will house 895,348 residents (-0.17 deviation), while district two will house 898,368 residents (0.17 deviation).
If passed through the Senate, members of the House of Delegates would also need to pass the bill before Gov. Jim Justice either approves the bill or moves to veto.
The Senate planned to meet on Oct. 12 for further discussion, but details of this session were not available as of press time.
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