Redistricting Commission changes Valley's 14th, 15th Districts

YAKIMA, Wash. — Just two hours shy of its New Year’s Day deadline, the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission finalized a plan with implications for much of the state, none more so than Central Washington.
Under a compromise plan approved about 10 p.m. Sunday, the 15th Legislative District would take parts of Yakima, Union Gap and most of Selah from the 14th District to become a majority Latino district — the first in Washington state. Under the plan, Lower Valley towns stretching from Wapato to Grandview — where Latinos form the majority of the population — would remain in the 15th District.

Meanwhile, the 14th District would swap territory with the 15th to cover all of Klickitat and Skamania counties as well as part of Clark County.

Rep. Charles Ross, R-Naches, described the change as "tremendous" for the two districts. His 14th District was once among the smallest in the Eastern Washington, confined solely to Yakima and the Upper Valley. Now it's one of the biggest geographically, extending south to the Columbia River and into the Columbia Gorge.

"The 14th District legislators were very spoiled ... because it was such a small geographic district," he said. "But those days are gone for at least the next decade."

Redistricting is done once a decade to rebalance or equalize the state's legislative and congressional districts. Comprised of two Republican appointees and two Democratic appointees, the commission had to agree on the state's political mapwork by the end of New Year's Day.

Working from 2010 Census figures, the commission's goal was to have roughly 137,235 people in each of the state's 49 legislative districts. The commission also worked out the boundaries of a new Olympia-centered congressional district, Washington's 10th by virtue of its population growth of about 1 million people over the past decade.

If the panel had failed to reach an agreement, the state Supreme Court would have taken control of the process.

The territorial swap between the 14th and the 15th legislative districts is so extensive that it nearly bumped Rep. Norm Johnson, R-Yakima, out of a job. His home off Washington Avenue is now on the very edge of the 14th District, across the street from the 15th's new boundaries.

Meanwhile under the plan, Sen. Curtis King would no longer represent Union Gap, where he was grew up. He'd still represent most of Yakima, but also now all of Klickitat and Skamania counties.

"We will be looking precinct by precinct at what's left, what's changed, what's the impact, all of that to get a feel for where we're at," said King, a Yakima Republican. "Clearly it's a bigger area to cover."

Ross said that although he and King and Johnson will have to travel more, the new 14th District should continue to skew conservative.

"Those folks, their viewpoints are pretty similar to ours," he said. "It will be a much more rural district, and pretty conservative."

From a campaigning perspective, "I can't imagine how many parades there must be," he said.