PENINSULA VOICES: REDISTRICTING AND ITS DOUBLE-EDGE IMPACT

• Published in: Daily press (Newport News, Va. : Final ed.)
• Main Author: Kidd, Quentin
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newport News, Va Tribune Interactive, LLC 28.10.2012
• Subjects: Bland, Otis

  [Otis Bland] was followed in Congress by a series of men (and eventually a woman) who viewed Newport News and the surrounding area on the Peninsula as their political base. Edward Robeson Jr., Thomas N. Downing and Herbert H. Bateman were all home-based in Newport News. Paul S. Trible Jr. and JoAnn Davis were home-based in Essex and Gloucester counties, respectively, but saw Newport News as their district's center of political gravity. In 1993, part of Newport News was carved out of the 1st district to create a new majority-minority district in Southeast Virginia: the 3rd District represented by Bobby Scott. Rob Wittman's election in 2007 to succeed the late Jo Ann Davis marked the first time since 1918, however, that the 1st District representative was home-based so far from Newport News (Wittman is from Montross) and it perhaps foretold the city's waning influence over the district. This method also would end the trade-off between electoral competition and fair representation, and so long as individual voting rights were protected, eliminate the need for majority-minority districts. In the Hampton Roads super district, for example, voters would choose their top three candidates. It is very easy to see a broad racially and politically diverse Hampton Roads delegation resulting from such a voting method. It is also very easy to see a more broadly diverse Virginia delegation resulting from such a voting method.