Public submissions provide glimpse of congressional redistricting possibilities

Or, in any event, what some people would like them to look like.

In practice, none of the 10 congressional maps submitted by the public and reviewed by a joint legislative committee on Tuesday is likely to be fully adopted when the Legislature meets in special session next month.

But they did raise some interesting ideas and provoke discussion, especially about what seems to be the primary point of contention — what to do with the Oklahoma City metro area.

The 5th Congressional District — currently most of Oklahoma County with Pottawatomie and Seminole counties tacked on — is the state's only competitive district. It's also has to shed about 33,000 people through redistricting.

People who want the district to remain competitive favor something along the lines of compressing the district down to just Oklahoma County.

The Republican-led Legislature is unlikely to be keen on that idea, however, given that the last two CD 5 elections swung Democratic in Oklahoma County, and current Republican Congresswoman Stephanie Bice owed her 2020 victory to large majorities in the district's two outlying counties.

Proposals put forward by the two best-known names on the list of submissions illustrated the conflict.

Andy Moore, an advocate of non-partisan redistricting commissions, drew a 5th District consisting of only Oklahoma County excluding Tinker Air Force Base and picking up a corresponding sliver of Cleveland County.

Moore's map makes the 5th District a little over 50% Republican.

Pat McFerron, a Republican strategist, hooked Frank Lucas' sprawling 3rd District through southwest Oklahoma City into the middle of downtown and as far east as the I-40/I-35 interchange — a configuration similar to one drawn by Democrats in 1991 and erased by Republicans in 2000.

McFerron's map also hikes Tom Cole's 4th District further north into Oklahoma City and spreads out the 5th to the west, north and northeast while retaining Shawnee and Pottawatomie County.

McFerron, whose map makes the district 58% Republican, said his objective was to avoid a rural-urban divide he said is evident in the Legislature.

"We're a small state. We need a unified delegation," said McFerron, who was not at Tuesday's meeting. "My thought was ... let's have three congressmen with a vested interest in central Oklahoma and three that have a vested interest in the rural areas."

Two lawmakers representing southwestern Oklahoma City were clearly unhappy with McFerron's map, which they seemed to view as the most likely preview of the final product given his prominence in Republican circles.

"I know these neighborhoods," said Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City. "This is the Hispanic community of south Oklahoma City. You're splitting it in two ... This is offensive to a lot of people in south Oklahoma City.

"I have to ask if you don't think it's a little bit ridiculous that I could be driving through three different congressional districts from my house to the Capitol. ... (And) I live five minutes from here," Bennett said.

State Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, also questioned the rationale of drawing Hispanic neighborhoods in southwest Oklahoma City into a district that would include Frederick and Boise City — and, for that matter, northwest Tulsa.

McFerron, asked about Democrat concerns that his map will be the final one, said he's had no official contact with the committee or any members of Congress. He is, however, listed as president of Cole's former political consulting firm, Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass and Associates, and owns CMA Strategies, a similar company specializing in Republican campaigns.

State Rep. Monroe Nichols, D-Tulsa, asked if the maps have, in fact, already been drawn, to which Ryan Martinez, R-Edmond, the committee co-chairman, replied "Not really."

"'Not really' to me means 'Sort of, maybe,'" said Nichols.

Martinez accused Bennett of "putting words in my mouth" and restated his answer as a "No."

Moore, who raised the issue of minority distribution in his presentation, said he suspects most of the big decisions have already been made, but said he appreciated being able to make his points in a public forum. His proposal was the only one of the 10 that equalized the five congressional districts down to the person.

Relatively little attention was paid to the rest of the state map, even though the 1st District, which includes Tulsa, must lose several thousand more people than the 5th, and the 2nd District now represented by Markwayne Mullin must add 70,000.

Changes to those, though, are not expected to greatly alter the voting balance.

Proposals for slimming the 1st District ranged from Moore's simply moving eastern Wagoner County and the small pieces of Rogers and Creek counties now in the 1st to the 2nd and 3rd, to a long-flat arrangement running from Tahlequah to I-35 west of Stillwater.

One submission that split Tulsa in two draws pieces of all five congressional districts into the Oklahoma City metro.

Martinez said he expects the committee to issue proposed maps several weeks before the Legislature meets in special session on Nov. 15.

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