Redistricting in America

New congressional maps, which give significantly new or merged districts to representatives in southeast Michigan, were approved on a 25-13 vote Wednesday by the state Senate. Because the new districts already have passed the state House, the maps need only Gov. Rick Snyder's signature to become law. Sara Wurfel, spokeswoman for the governor, said he is looking forward to reviewing the maps to ensure they're fair and constitutional. Legal challenges to the new districts, which dropped from 15 to 14 because of population loss in the state, are likely from groups including the Michigan Democratic Party, Congressional Black Caucus or Michigan Legislative Black Caucus.

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The state Senate today passed a plan to remap Michigan's House and Senate districts with some Democrats siding with Republicans after changes were made in Wayne County districts. Senate Republicans rejected a statewide redistricting plan offered by Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing. Several Detroit Democrats voted in favor of passage after the Wayne County portion of the Democratic plan was adopted as an amendment offered by Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville of Monroe.

Michigan Republicans released an entirely unsurprising draft congressional map on Friday, with the two big changes being the drawing together of Democratic Reps. Sandy Levin and Gary Peters and the shoring up of GOP Rep. Thaddeus McCotter. But a closer look at the proposed map shows it as illustrative of the redistricting challenges the GOP faces this year.

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State House Republicans plan to release proposed new political maps for legislative and congressional districts Friday, unveiling the results of a process shrouded in secrecy.The boundaries are required to be redrawn every 10 years based on population counts from the U.S. Census. The 2010 tally showed Michigan was the only state in the nation to lose population over the past decade, resulting in the loss of one congressional seat.The state also saw significant population shifts, with losses in southeast Michigan and gains in west Michigan and other parts of the state. While the number of seats in the Legislature will stay the same — 110 in the House and 38 in the Senate — the shape of the districts will be reconfigured to reflect population changes.

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A draft redistricting plan in Michigan would place two incumbent Democratic congressmen in the same district, the Detroit News reports. The Republican plan would, as many observers have expected, place longtime Rep. Sandy Levin and Rep. Gary Peters, now in his second term, in the same suburban Detroit district.

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We’re through the first big week of congressional redistricting, and everything has more or less gone according to plan. In Indiana and Louisiana, Republicans did their best to push Reps. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Jeff Landry (R-La.) out, while a commission in Iowa did what commissions do and overhauled the map to a significant degree.

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A recount of the U.S. census numbers in Detroit could pay off for the city, but results would come too late to make a difference in how Michigan's political districts are drawn, the state's demographer told lawmakers Tuesday.