There has been plenty of confusion concerning Congressional redistricting and how it will affect Washington Parish.
States realign their Congressional districts every decade to adjust for increases or decreases in population. While every state has two U.S. Senators regardless of the state’s size, members of Congress are allocated to a state based on its population. Wyoming, small in population, has two senators but only one Congressman. On the other hand, the nation’s largest state, California, has two senators and 53 Congressmen.
Louisiana has two senators and six Congressmen.
During the last redistricting, after the 2010 census, Washington Parish was moved from the 1st Congressional District to the 5th Congressional District. Some parish officials have maintained that the parish has much more in common with the 1st District, which contains St. Tammany and Jefferson parishes, along with parts of Tangipahoa Parish, rather than the sprawling 5th District, which covers much of northeast Louisiana and runs all the way to the Arkansas border.
However, when the state legislature redistricted early this year, Washington Parish remained in the 5th Congressional District, represented by Congresswoman Julia Letlow of the Monroe area.
But the redistricting plan was overturned by U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick of Baton Route, who didn’t think it was fair to Louisiana’s minority population. The state is 1/3 Black, yet it only has one minority Congressional District. Judge Dick reasoned that with six districts, two of them should be minority districts. She ordered that the legislature take another shot at redistricting. If the legislature could not build a map with two minority districts, the judge said, then she would do it herself.
But the judge’s order was stayed by a higher court and the amended redistricting plan was put on hold.
State Sen. Beth Mizell of Franklinton said that as of right now, it appears that the existing Congressional map will be used for elections this fall. Thus, Washington Parish will be voting for either Congresswoman Letlow or whoever runs against her.
Sen. Mizell said the legislature is awaiting a court order before it can respond and proceed.
However, she said that if the legislature is forced to amend its redistricting plan to include two minority districts, then Washington Parish may be split in the 1st District and the 6th District.
“Other ideas were tossed around,” she said, “but the map most discussed as an alternative plan with two minority districts had Washington Parish split between the 1st and 6th districts.”
For now then, Washington Parish remains in Julia Letlow’s 5th Congressional District. In the near future, however, the parish could find itself divided into two Congressional districts. While at first blush that may sound worrisome, several parish officials said they actually like the idea of having two Congressmen, not one, representing the parish’s interests.
