Every 10 years, coinciding with the federal population census, Washington redraws its legislative and U.S. House district boundaries — like other states.
In Washington, this is done by a 4-member commission (2 Democrats, 2 Republicans) appointed by the legislature. If they don’t agree on new district maps by a prescribed deadline, the state supreme court takes over.
This year, 2021, the 4 members finally agreed on U.S. House districts after much wrangling, but missed the deadline by a hair and there were complaints that part of the process violated the state’s open meetings act. As a legal technicality, the missed deadline meant the task devolved to the state supreme court, but all 9 justices agreed to act the commission’s final, agreed-upon, maps (see story here).
Pulling maps off the internet can be tricky, and I’m not 100% sure I have the right ones, but I think these are the old and new U.S. House districts. From what I’ve read, Hispanic advocates failed to get a Hispanic-majority district centered in Yakima, and the partisan orientation of all 10 districts remains roughly as it was before.
The Hill says (here), “The new map lines are unlikely to lead to substantial changes to Washington’s ten-member congressional delegation: Three districts centered in and north of Seattle are heavily Democratic; three districts that border Oregon and Idaho are heavily Republican; and three more districts, stretching west of the Cascades from the Canadian border to the Olympic Peninsula, lean toward Democrats.”
The remaining district, the 8th, narrowly won by a Democrat in 2018 and 2020 after being Republican for many years, and which The Hill describes as “among the more competitive [House districts] in the nation,” may become even more so, because due to faster population growth in western Washington, it had to extend eastward into eastern Washington “to gobble up enough population.” However, those GOP voters may be offset by growth of the Democratic base in the district’s western portion.
Anyway, here are what I think are the old and new House district maps, which will be in effect for the 2022 midterm elections:
Old:
New:
The bottom line seems to be that Republicans have a slightly improved chance to convert a House seat in Washington, shifting our delegation from 7-3 to 6-4, which is what it was before 2018, but only a chance.