By FRED SWIFT
U.S. Congresswoman Victoria Spartz should have an easier election in 2022 thanks to the drawing of proposed congressional boundaries. The Republican majority in the General Assembly yesterday released maps of re-drawn districts that show the 5th Congressional District reduced parts of eight counties to six.
Spartz
Redistricting comes as a result of the 2020 federal census and is required every 10 years.
The 5th District will no longer include a part of Marion County, and is actually more compact than in 2010. The district now includes all of Hamilton, Tipton, Grant, Madison and Delaware counties, and nearly all of Howard County, all of which Spartz won in her first election in 2020. Democrats have claimed the new districts are gerrymandered to favor the GOP.
The new maps of Indiana congressional and state legislative districts will be made official in October after public hearings, but are expected to change little from those released Tuesday.
Hamilton County remains split into six state House districts, the same as was the case for the past 10 years. The big change comes in District 37 represented by Tony Cook. It still includes northern Hamilton County, but picks up the eastern portion of the county and eliminates some areas north all the way to Grant County.
This author editorialized earlier this year against further splitting the county into multiple districts when state law provides that districts should be “compact and represent communities of interest.”
State senatorial maps will be released later this month.