House Democrats Alter Redistricting Plan

After days of negotiations and partisan criticism, Rep. Clark Hall (D-Marvell) and Rep. Eddie Cheatham (D-Crossett) reworked a Congressional District map with an amendment to a new shell bill.

HB 1322 was amended to include the latest plan to redraw district lines. You can view a larger version of the map here.

The new Congressional map keeps the controversial shift of moving the city of Fayetteville into the Fourth Congressional District. It also deviates greatly from a previous map with a number of new shifts. They include:

• Moving Drew County back into the Fourth
• Moving Lonoke County into the Second and adding White County in the First
• Splitting Van Buren County
• Moving the Garland County portion of Hot Springs Village back into the Fourth
• Adding a rural portion of southeastern Pope County into the Second
• Leaving Mountain Home in the First, but moving northern and southern sections of Baxter County into the Third
• Moving Franklin County back into the Third, but adding southern Madison County into the Fourth in order to gain access to Fayetteville

The bill passed out of House State Agencies this afternoon on a 12-8 party line vote. Democrats hold 12 seats on the influential committee.

When presenting the bill to the committee, Rep. Cheatham said the accommodations were made address concerns raised since the first map was presented.

"You’re going to make someone happy, someone mad," Cheatham said. "We felt like this would be the best route to go."

After the meeting, Rep. Hall was asked if the bill was presented to make Congressional Districts more advantageous for Democrats.

"I’m trying to draw a map that gives a fair representation to all citizens in the state of Arkansas," Hall said.

Hall said he would try another alternative map if this one did not succeed in the House. He expects to bring it up for consideration on Thursday.