The Redistricting Committee Has Maps, and They Are Weird

By Riley Sweeney
Our bipartisan committee to redraw the political boundaries of Washington State has cranked out some draft maps in the last couple of weeks that have big changes in store for Whatcom County. Let’s take a look at what is probably in store. Look at the maps HERE.

Congressional Maps: By far the more thrilling news, Whatcom County will have two representatives next year. All of Bellingham remains in the 2nd with Rick Larsen as our congressman, however the new 1st district stretches in a spindly crescent moon from East King County up to include all the county portions of Whatcom. This means that we will be in the district of a couple good hopefuls. Declared Democratic candidates for the 1st Congressional District open seat being vacated by Jay Inslee are:

• 44th LD State Sen. Steve Hobbs, Lake Stevens
• Former 45th LD State Rep. Laura Ruderman, Kirkland
• Two-time Congressional candidate Darcy Burner, Redmond
• Darshan Rauniyar, businessman, from Bothell
• 45th LD State Rep. Roger Goodman, Kirkland

On the Republican side of the map, John Koster is in the 1st district now, and is Lake Whatcom-area resident Greg Anders, who has raised twice as much money as Koster so far. Either way it will be an interesting cycle.

Legislative Maps: The committee decided to trade away part of the 42nd for a better bargain on other districts. As a result, the new boundary takes six precincts from the 42nd (York and southern Bellingham) and moves them into the 40th. The good news is that it puts Kevin Ranker, Jeff Morris and Kris Lytton into mostly guaranteed safe seats. The bad news is that the 42nd LD becomes a safer seat for such hyper-partisan extremists like Jason Overstreet and Vincent Buys.