Repeater
Regular Member
Did Watkins help us or hurt us? He led an effort to "tweak" Senate Districts, which in theory strengthens Republicans, or does it?
Virginia Republicans push through rewrite of Senate districts
Virginia Republicans push through rewrite of Senate districts
Senate Republicans this afternoon pushed through a surprise rewrite of the 2011 redistricting plan that erases a Democratic seat in western Virginia and creates a sixth majority black district that would be located between Petersburg and Danville.
Democrats were shocked by the move, vowing to oppose the new plan in court.
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The new Republican map lumps into the same district Republican Emmett W. Hanger Jr., R-Augusta and Democrat R. Creigh Deeds of Bath.
No members would lose their seats and no special elections would be required at this time. The new boundaries, if approved, would take effect in the next Senate election in 2015.
Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, who managed the rewrite on the Senate floor, defended the new map. He said it would bring Virginia in closer compliance with federal civil rights laws that promote the creation of majority-minority districts.