Redistricting

North Carolina GOP Set To Solidify Gains with Redistricting

Jessica Kim | July 28, 2011, 11:30AM

Rep. Heath Schuler (D-NC)

Rep. Heath Schuler (D-NC), a three-term congressman, is no stranger to seeking re-election in a GOP-friendly district.

But this time around, if he runs, his fortunes may turn, as he faces the prospect of protecting his seat in the wake of redistricting in North Carolina, a process that was largely controlled by state Republicans for the first time in over a century. State Democrats stand to lose their 7-6 majority and more in the state Legislature.

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Wisconsin Recalls

This Week: The Wisconsin Recalls, Round One

Eric Kleefeld | July 11, 2011, 5:50AM

Wisconsin Democrats face the latest step this week in their efforts to win control of the state Senate in recall elections, triggered by opposition to Republican Gov. Scott Walker's anti-public employee union legislation. On Tuesday, six Democratic challengers are running in primaries against some rather unusual opponents, before they can move on to the general elections -- and even then, the battle is likely to go on even after the elections.

They key thing to remember is that if there were no primaries -- that is, if only one Democrat had filed in each race, with no other Republicans than the incumbents -- then the six GOP incumbents would be on the ballot Tuesday, with the potential to change control of a chamber where Republicans currently have a 19-14 majority.

Soon after the recall elections were triggered, Republicans declared a strategy to plant fake candidates in the Democratic primaries -- which they have called "protest candidates" -- in order to delay the general elections from July to August, while the GOP incumbents run unopposed.

The candidates range from a GOP activist in his 20s, to a former Republican state representative who is in his 80s. Also, it turns out the whole scheme will cost local governments throughout the state over $400,000.

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Dennis Kucinich

Poll: Washington Voters Wouldn't Roll Out Welcome Mat For Kucinich

Jon Terbush | May 24, 2011, 3:34PM

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-WA)? A new PPP poll out Tuesday suggests voters in Washington state are largely unreceptive to the thought of the Ohio congressman moving west and running for office in their state.

In the poll, 39% of registered voters said Kucinich should not run for Congress from a new district that will be drawn next year as a result of last year's census reapportionment, while 12% said he should run. A bright spot fo Kucinich though, should he move to Washington and decide to run, is that a 48% plurality of voters are still undecided.

Also, while a 53% majority of voters there don't know Kucinich well enough to form an opinion of him, a greater percentage of voters don't like him (28%) than the percentage who do like him (19%.)

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Redistricting

Dennis Kucinich Running for Reelection In .... Washington State?

Benjy Sarlin | May 3, 2011, 3:59PM

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

Threatened by redistricting, anti-war gadfly Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) may return to the scene of his famed UFO encounter in search of re-election.

The Seattle Times checked in with the congressman's office after he was observed spending an inordinate amount of time in Washington State -- where Kucinich once communed with an apparent alien at Shirley MacLaine's house, according to her memoir -- to find out whether he was scoping out a potential backup district. Kucinich's response certainly seemed to encourage the idea.

"After people found out that Congressman Kucinich's district could be eliminated or substantially altered in congressional redistricting by the Ohio Legislature's Republican majority, Congressman Kucinich received requests from people in twenty states, including Washington State, encouraging him to move and run in their area," a spokesman, Nathan White said in a statement. "Congressman Kucinich appreciates the interest expressed in his public service. As he has repeatedly said, he fully intends to remain in Congress; he just doesn't know in what district he will run. In the meantime, he is devoted to serving Ohio's 10th district as it currently stands."

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House '12

Iowa GOPer Latham To Move Districts And Oppose Dem Boswell -- Avoiding Primary With Steve King

Eric Kleefeld | April 15, 2011, 1:56PM

Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA) and Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA)

Iowa's partially non-partisan redistricting process has now resulted in some musical chairs, as the state adjusts to being reduced from five House seats to four. And in the latest development, Republican Rep. Tom Latham has announced he is moving across the new lines into the district of Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell, challenging him in the general election -- and avoiding a Republican primary with Tea Partying Congressman Steve King.

The Des Moines Register reports:

Latham, who now lives in Ames in Iowa's 4th Congressional District, would have resided in Iowa's in the same district as Rep. Steve King, a Kiron Republican, under new political boundaries approved Thursday by the Iowa Legislature. His move to the new 3rd District - which covers southwest Iowa - from Des Moines to Council Bluffs, avoids an intra-party primary battle between two GOP incumbents.

Latham sent a letter today to friends and supporters announcing he will move to the 3rd District, saying, "I have never let map boundaries block the great honor I have felt in representing the interests of all Iowans in the United States Congress."

So which one of them won't have a chair when the music stops in November 2012?

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Census

Report: Census Policy Cost North Carolina A Congressional Seat

Melissa Jeltsen | March 30, 2011, 11:26AM

North Carolina narrowly missed out on snagging an additional congressional seat because of the way the U.S. Census counts military personnel, according to a review by the Associated Press.

The Census doesn't count troops who are deployed overseas in the state where they live and work. Instead, they are counted in their "home state," often the state they grew up in.

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Redistricting

Kucinich To Supporters: Where Will I Run If My District Is Eliminated?

Eric Kleefeld | December 29, 2010, 4:38PM

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), the staunch progressive and two-time presidential candidate, is now sounding the alarm to his supporters: He may have to run in a completely different district.

As a result of the post-Census reapportionment, Ohio has lost two House seats, going down from 18 districts to 16. And as such, it's widely believed that Kucinich's seat could be chopped up -- ironically, Kucinich's political real estate could be redistributed among his neighbors by Ohio's Republican legislators. As he writes in an e-mail to his supporters:

I will not wait until the Ohio Legislature produces a new map to start thinking of the options. The question will not be: Who is my opponent? The question will be: Where is my district? Seriously.

We are going to have to prepare for a different kind of election, possibly in a different place because my district may be eliminated. We are going to have to organize in a different way, now. The question will remain: Where?

(Via CNN.)