Politics & Government

Congressman Peters Vows to Fight 'Gerrymandered' Redistricting Maps

The new legislative maps mean new boundaries for House, Senate and Congressional districts in Michigan.

Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday signed legislation that redraws legislative boundaries for the state House and Senate and for congressional districts.

In West Bloomfield, that means a new representative in Congress as well as a new state representative.

Every decade, states must redraw the boundaries for state House and Senate and U.S. House seats based on U.S. Census results.

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Under the plan, the 40th district, represented by House Rep. Chuck Moss (R-Birmingham) would encompass part of the township. Congressman Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Hills), meanwhile, would no longer serve in West Bloomfield, as his district has been eliminated.

That does not sit well with Peters, whose district is being split into three separate districts. Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit) who currently represents the 14th District, would represent West Bloomfield along with parts of Wayne County, including the Grosse Pointes and southwest Detroit.

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“Governor Snyder may have signed these gerrymandered maps, but that doesn’t protect them from a legal challenge. Throughout this process, I have been working with the delegation to fight the proposed maps, and I will continue supporting any legal challenge as it goes forward," Peters said in a statement.

Both Peters and Conyers have vowed to run for election in 2012.

"At our peak, we had 19 seats in Congress. We only have 15 today and next year we are going to drop to 14 because Michigan was the only state in the nation to actually lose population over the last decade," Snyder said in a statement.

Here's a look at how the proposed reapportionment would affect West Bloomfield:

In the state House

Now: Brown, a first-term Democrat, currently occupies a large portion of West Bloomfield extending east to the Bloomfield Township limits. First-term Republican Gail Haines (R-Waterford) occupies the 43rd District and the northwestern corner of West Bloomfield.

As proposed: Brown’s 39th district would close in eastward and expand in the west to encompass Wixom. The 40th district, currently represented by Moss and occupying Keego Harbor, Sylvan Lake and Orchard Lake Village among others, would expand to include a portion of West Bloomfield.

In the state Senate

Now: West Bloomfield is part of Mike Kowall's 15th district. Kowall, a first-term Republican, was elected in Nov. 2010.

As proposed: West Bloomfield would remain in the 15th district.

Congress

Now: West Bloomfield is part of the 9th District, led by Peters, a Democrat from Bloomfield Hills.

As proposed: Oakland County would be broken into four congressional districts (8, 9, 11 and 14).

  • District 14 would include Farmington Hills (but not Farmington — that would be in District 11) as well as West Bloomfield, Pontiac, Southfield and parts of Wayne County.
  • District 8 would include Rochester and Rochester Hills and the rest of the northern half of the county (from Oakland and Addison townships west to Holly and Rome townships). District 8 is currently led by Congressman Mike Rogers, a Republican.
  • District 11 would almost encircle the southern half of the county and include everything from Clawson and Troy to Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham west to Milford and south to Canton.
  • District 9, finally, would include Royal Oak, Ferndale, Berkley, Huntington Woods and Bloomfield Township.

For more on the reapportionment proposals, see House Bill 4780, which involves the congressional redistricting and House Bill 4779, which involves the state House and Senate redistricting.


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