Iowa Legislative and Congressional Redistricting Map Analysis – Take 2

On Thursday, October 21, the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) delivered its second redistricting plan, including the second set of maps, to the Iowa legislature.

During the special session on October 5, the Iowa Senate rejected the first redistricting plan (SF620) on a 32-18 party-line vote.  The Senate adopted a resolution (SJR9) that stated the reasons for rejecting the redistricting plan and requested the LSA, “submit a plan that better balances compactness with the legally mandated population deviation.

In its report on the second plan, the LSA states:

The Legislative Services Agency agrees that both population equality and compactness are to be considered in developing a proposed redistricting plan for congressional and legislative districts. However, the resolution infers that both standards should be granted equal weight or that compactness should be granted more importance, relative to population equality, so long as “the legally mandated population deviation” is satisfied. The Legislative Services Agency contends that this inference, if it accurately reflects the intent of the resolution, is not consistent with Iowa Code section 42.4, the United States Constitution, or the Iowa Constitution.

The legislature will convene in a special session on Thursday, October 28, 2021, to vote on the second redistricting plan. As with the first plan, the second plan can only be accepted or rejected without the chance for amendment. If the second plan is rejected, the LSA will have 35 days to draw the third set of maps, which are subject to the amendment process as any other bill would be. In September, the Iowa Supreme Court issued an order establishing a deadline of December 1, 2021, for the General Assembly to approve a plan.

Below is a high-level analysis of LSA’s second proposed Iowa congressional & legislative district maps.

Congressional

• U.S. 1st Congressional District – currently represented by Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, has no incumbent within the newly drawn boundaries which include the southeast corner of the state from Lee to Jackson counties, stretching as far west as Warren county. Congresswoman Hinson is now in U.S. 2.
• U.S. 2nd Congressional District –  currently represented by Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks from Ottumwa, is now drawn to include the northeast corner of the state, including Linn, Dubuque, Black Hawk, and Cerro Gordo counties. Congresswoman Hinson is now in U.S. 2. Congresswoman Miller-Meeks is now in U.S. 3.
• U.S. 3rd Congressional District – currently represented by Congresswoman Cindy Axne, continues to include Polk and Dallas counties, but now includes seven of the bottom tier counties of Iowa from Page to Davis counties. Congresswoman Axne and Congresswoman Miller-Meeks are drawn together within the newly drawn boundaries of U.S. 3.
• U.S. 4th Congressional District – currently represented by Congressman Randy Feenstra, continues to include the northwest corner of the state, but the newly drawn boundaries also include the entire western border of Iowa. Congressman Feenstra remains in U.S. 4.

Legislative

• 32% of Iowa lawmakers are drawn into the same legislative districts under new maps (43% of Iowa lawmakers were drawn into the same legislative district under the first set of maps)
• Of the 150 sitting members of the legislature, 48 are now in districts with fellow incumbents (54 members were in districts with fellow incumbents under the first set of maps).
• 21% of the newly drawn districts will be open seats in the 2022 election:
  • Of the 50 newly drawn Senate districts, there are 13 open seats
  • Of the 100 newly drawn House districts, there are 19 open seats

Maps

Below is a full analysis of the legislative maps/new legislative districts in the corresponding charts. These new maps reflect population changes from the latest census and open districts.

When the maps are finalized, expect to hear about elected officials moving out of their districts to run in districts without primaries against incumbents. The new maps will also cause some incumbents to announce their retirement at the end of their term. These changes happen after every redistricting.