OKLAHOMA CITY — Turns out, not all of the dissatisfaction with the new congressional districts up for final approval by the Legislature this week is in Oklahoma County.
Overall, the decennial redrawing of the state’s five congressional and 149 legislative districts has been fairly noncontroversial. Most complaints have centered on the Republican majority’s decision to add a swath of southern Oklahoma City to the 3rd Congressional District while extending the 5th District north and west into Republican strongholds.
The effect figures to make CD 5 more safely Republican without putting CD 3 into play.
But state Rep. Wendi Stearman, R-Bartlesville, and Rep. Sean Roberts, R-Hominy, indicated Wednesday that at least some folks in Bartlesville and Washington County are not happy about being moved from Tulsa-based CD 1 to sprawling CD 2.
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Roberts raised the issue during discussion of House Bill 1002x, the congressional redistricting measure, and Stearman expressed her disapproval by casting the only Republican vote against it.
The move of Bartlesville — and eastern Wagoner County — from CD 1 to CD 2 might seem unrelated to the carving up of Oklahoma County, but the first is a knock-on effect of the second.
CD 2 had to gain about 70,000 people in redistricting, and the decision not to take any of them, directly or indirectly, out of CD 5 meant all of them had to come from CD 1.
CD 1 had to lose about 35,000 people anyway, but upping that to 70,000 meant either shifting the Wagoner County portion of Broken Arrow or Washington County into CD 2.
A straight swap would have left CD 1 short, so it picked up Sapulpa and eastern Creek County.
The result is a more compact district but one that apparently has irritated some Washington County voters.
Stearman was one of three Republicans to vote against the state House redistricting bill HB 1001x. The southeastern Osage County-north Tulsa County area is losing a seat in redistricting, which will result in Stearman’s House District 11 being drawn more into the metro.
HB 1001x passed the House 88-3, with Stearman, Roberts and Rep. Tommy Hardin, R-Madill, casting the no votes.
The congressional redistricting measure, HB 1002x, passed 75-19, with all Democrats joining Stearman in opposition, and after Republicans tabled an amendment from Minority Leader Emily Virgin, D-Norman, to substitute a congressional map favored by Democrats.
Rep. Ryan Martinez, R-Edmond, insisted that political considerations were not part of the redistricting, but Virgin and Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City, whose legislative district will be split by the new congressional boundaries, said that plainly is not the case.
“Let’s be clear,” said Virgin. “This is gerrymandering. … To pretend otherwise is intellectually dishonest.”
“I don’t know if this is unconstitutional,” said Bennett. “But there’s a difference between unconstitutional and just not right.”
The Senate was much quieter. It passed four redistricting-related measures, including the new boundaries of that chamber.
That bill, SB 0001x, passed 47-1, with Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, casting the only dissenting vote.
Eleven Republican senators, however, voted against SB 0005x, which extends to Dec. 31 the party affiliation deadline for the 2022 elections.
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Redistricting in Oklahoma: Follow the coverage
About the special session
Lawmakers on Friday sent six redistricting bills to Gov. Kevin Stitt following a weeklong special session.
The bills include new maps for the 101 House districts, 48 Senate districts and five congressional districts, and temporary adjustments to residency and party registration requirements.
The federal and state constitutions require redistricting every 10 years.
Click here to read more.
Proposal for 1st Congressional District would drop Washington County, add Sapulpa
Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District would continue to consist mostly of Tulsa County but would lose Washington County and most of Wagoner County while picking up Sapulpa and eastern Creek County under a redistricting proposal released by a legislative committee.
“After hearing public comment, people seemed to view Sapulpa as more of a suburb or associated with Tulsa than Bartlesville is,” said Redistricting Committee Chairman Ryan Martinez, R-Edmond.
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“I don’t like that they are technically included because they can’t give a benefit,” said Jessica Janes, a 32-year-old small business owner and former teacher who ran as a Republican candidate for House District 18 in 2018. “They’re not in a position to vote, so I don’t want an empty body without a say in what’s going on.”
