A while back, I wrote about Massachusetts potentially losing a congressional seat due to the tens of thousands of people fleeing the state. Here is the post: ["Mass. to lose congressional seat?"].
Well, now it looks like what was originally speculation could turn into reality: ["State faces loss of congressional seat after 2010 census, two studies show"].
What is interesting about this is that I originally thought the state might only lose one seat. But two? What a friggin' bloodbath that will be! Even if say a Rep. Richard Neal or Rep. Ed Markey decided to retire, since I think they are the two oldest reps., the entire state would still need to be redistricted. And that would throw everything up into the air.
As it is now, as the article states, Massachusetts will have to be redistricted anyway, whether it loses none, one, or two seats. The population is shifting all over the place. But, don't expect that to require a change in representation. The redistricters will protect their own, just like they always do. This, despite the pseudo "people's commission" that gets set up every year to have a few meetings around the state about how the redistricting should look. Nothing will change.
But, wouldn't it be great if none of the 10 decided to step down and four of them went at each other in two congressional primaries? Would there actually be a chance for a Republican or, gasp, an independent to win a seat in that situation? Recently elected Niki Tsongas won the seat by a little more than 6,000 votes out of more than 105,000 cast. If Jim Ogonowski had a better campaign organization and a bit more money, Merrimack Valley might be calling him representative.
Who knows. But, we do know this: Let the games begin!
Well, now it looks like what was originally speculation could turn into reality: ["State faces loss of congressional seat after 2010 census, two studies show"].
What is interesting about this is that I originally thought the state might only lose one seat. But two? What a friggin' bloodbath that will be! Even if say a Rep. Richard Neal or Rep. Ed Markey decided to retire, since I think they are the two oldest reps., the entire state would still need to be redistricted. And that would throw everything up into the air.
As it is now, as the article states, Massachusetts will have to be redistricted anyway, whether it loses none, one, or two seats. The population is shifting all over the place. But, don't expect that to require a change in representation. The redistricters will protect their own, just like they always do. This, despite the pseudo "people's commission" that gets set up every year to have a few meetings around the state about how the redistricting should look. Nothing will change.
But, wouldn't it be great if none of the 10 decided to step down and four of them went at each other in two congressional primaries? Would there actually be a chance for a Republican or, gasp, an independent to win a seat in that situation? Recently elected Niki Tsongas won the seat by a little more than 6,000 votes out of more than 105,000 cast. If Jim Ogonowski had a better campaign organization and a bit more money, Merrimack Valley might be calling him representative.
Who knows. But, we do know this: Let the games begin!
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