West Virginia Redistricting: When the Music Stops
In April it was written, and in October it was sealed. 2022 will see at least one member-vs.-member House race.
Back in the spring, census data confirmed that West Virginia’s population had shrunk 3 percent since 2010, and that it would lose one of its three congressional districts in the reapportionment process.
With three incumbent representatives and just two districts to run in, the prospect for a member-vs.-member election was high from the start. But uncertainty remained: what would the districts look like, and would all three members run for re-election?
GOP Gov. Jim Justice signed the new congressional map into law on Oct. 22, and now we have answers to both of those questions. The state will be split into a northern district encompassing the Northern and Eastern panhandles, and a southern district encompassing Charleston and the bottom half of the state. (That was always the likeliest outcome, as Inside Elections wrote back in April.)
The map double-bunks 1st District Rep. David McKinley, who lives in Wheeling in the Northern Panhandle, and 2nd District Rep. Alex Mooney, who lives in Charles Town in the Eastern Panhandle; they now share the newly labeled 2nd District. Rep. Carol Miller, who previously represented the southern 3rd District, gets the new 1st District to herself.
And all three incumbents are running for re-election, setting up the first clash of colleagues of this redistricting cycle, between McKinley and Mooney.
Both new seats are Solid…
