Redistricting: As the redistricting process rumbles forward nationwide, one key question emerges every time a new map is adopted: How much of the population in each new district comes from each old district? Scrutinizing a map won’t tell you, but fortunately, Daily Kos Elections’ redistribution tables will. We’ve put together tables for all of the states that have completed congressional redistricting so far and will keep updating this resource until every state is finished.
We’ve also written a detailed guide explaining exactly how to use these tables. They reveal, for instance, that 40% of the population of Oregon’s brand new 6th Congressional District came from the old 1st District, while the remaining 60% was drawn from the old 5th.
This aspect of the new map presented a conundrum for Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader, who currently represents the old 5th: Most of his constituents, who’ve seen his name on the ballot for Congress in every election since 2008, now live in the 6th. However, his hometown of Canby—his proverbial base—is still in the new 5th.
Schrader in fact considered both districts when evaluating his re-election plans, but he ultimately decided to run in the new 5th, even though a smaller share of its population comes from the old 5th—47%—compared to the proportion that makes up the 6th (the 60% noted above). Put another way, Schrader already represents 420,000 people who live in the 6th but just 330,000 who live in the new 5th. Nevertheless, he opted to stick with the latter for what were doubtless a variety of reasons, with geographic familiarity likely high on the list.
This kind of question comes up over and over as states draw new maps, so you’ll want to bookmark our complete data set and keep it handy all year.
