Legislature Approves New Congressional District Map

The House and Senate approved legislation reconfiguring the Commonwealth into nine Congressional Districts. After collecting testimony from fellow legislators and the public, the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting is finally able to celebrate the passage of this legislation.

“I applaud Representative Moran and Senator Rosenberg for their work on our redistricting efforts,” House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said. “Chairman Moran and the Special Joint Committee conducted 13 public hearings across the state, utilized a website to facilitate public involvement, and worked closely with the people of our state to redraw these new districts in an open, inclusive, and transparent process. I congratulate my colleagues on the passage of this new plan.”

“Senator Rosenberg and the entire redistricting committee did an outstanding job,” Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) said. “For the first time, we created a two-way conversation between the Joint Committee and the public, and we counted on the involvement of legislators and residents alike to carry out a successful and transparent redistricting process. The final congressional map provides the strongest minority-majority congressional district in the state’s history and balanced populations in each district, and we should be proud of the hard work and dedication displayed throughout the entire redistricting process.”

“The districts described in our new plan are the culmination of two years’ work,” Representative Michael Moran, House Chair of the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting said. “The new districts embody the input and suggestions by all that shared their ideas with the committee, respect and advance the rights of minorities, and truly represent the many faces of Massachusetts. Thank you to the advocacy groups for sharing their ideas, to the public for offering their testimony, to the Senate and to Speaker DeLeo whose support and leadership have been what has made the process a success.”

“I am proud that this constitutionally defensible plan is the result of the most transparent redistricting process in our state’s history,” State Senator Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst), co-chair of the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting, said. “From the beginning, we asked the citizens of the Commonwealth to join us in a spirit of partnership and the response was most gratifying. My thanks to all my colleagues on the committee, especially co-chair Representative Michael Moran, for their hard work and dedication. But in the final analysis, this is the people’s map. And that is how it should be.”

During its work, the Committee heard thirty-one hours of testimony from more than 400 groups and individuals. The redistricting website received more than 45,000 hits.

The new plan includes the following features:

• Strongest minority-majority congressional district in the state’s history;
• 56.6  percent minority population in the minority-majority district;
• A new, incumbent-free district made up of Southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod; and
• Districts that make geographic sense.

Information from a press release.