Author: Dave Mistich

West Virginia Republicans have chipped away at Democrats’ foothold at the statehouse for nearly a decade. In 2014, the GOP took the majority for the first time in more than eighty years. Since then, their grasp has only strengthened.

Following the 2020 general election, Republicans took a supermajority in both the House of Delegates and state Senate. Political scientists here called it a “Red Tsunami.”

Now, thanks to a bill passed in 2018, redistricting in West Virginia has a new dimension this go-around. And it’s one that some think could benefit the majority party.

The West Virginia House of Delegates is moving from 100 members across 67 districts to 100 single-member districts — giving each member their own unique set of geographies and constituents.

“Right now, we’ve got 14, multi-member districts. All of those have to be reconfigured. Now, a lot of those multi-member districts are held by Republican incumbents, should they choose to run again,” said Marshall University political science professor Mary Beth Beller. “But five of those districts have Democrats and Republicans in them. And some of those districts are going to be pretty controversial.”

A map proposed by a Republican-led committee in the House of Delegates, would pit many incumbents of the same party against one another in the 2022 primaries. Some of those lawmakers currently share a multi-member district, including Democrats like Del. Kayla Young and House Minority Leader Doug Skaff.

There are also more than a dozen newly proposed districts that would be wide open — meaning no one currently at the statehouse occupies a seat within those boundaries.

Skaff said the current proposed redraw disproportionately affects his party’s incumbents — putting his members at a disadvantage when primary tickets get set.

“You have areas where they have people running against each other and you try to work hard to keep communities of interest together — without consideration of who may represent them,” Skaff said. “But when you see blatant disregard for communities of interest and cities and towns — and even counties — so to speak, sticking together, it just didn’t make sense.”

While there is no set deadline for West Virginia lawmakers to complete the redistricting process, the state constitution calls for candidates to live in their district one year prior to a general election — creating a de-facto deadline of Nov. 8.

Such a date complicates things for politicians like Young, who told West Virginia Public Broadcasting she’s moving from her current residence — in part so that she’s not running against the top member of her caucus. But, she says, all of that depends on how the lines are drawn.

“It’s gonna play a huge role because I want to continue being in public service,” Young said. “So, I want to live in a district that I can hopefully win or at least be competitive in, because I want to continue serving people.”

Delegate Gary Howell is chair of the West Virginia House committee tasked with redistricting this cycle. He argues he hasn’t considered incumbents in offering a proposed map.

“I repeatedly have told staff when we’re preparing these, I don’t want to know where any of the incumbents live,” Howell said. “We may have an idea because you know some of them and we know where some of them live — because we’ve served with them and they’ve told us. But we didn’t actively look on a map.”

Howell said that Democrats tend to live in more densely populated areas, which puts them at a higher chance of being next to one another. He also points to election results since the last redistricting cycle.

“Because of what the Democrats did 10 years ago — and previous ones where they had these multi-member districts, you ended up having a lot of Democrats elected from the city centers and a multi-member district.” Howell said. “As a result, they live very close to each other.”

Howell said the proposed House map will change before being voted on next week. But he and other lawmakers are well aware of the timetable they’re up against, given the one-year residency requirement. He doesn’t dismiss current, or future, lawmakers looking to move to be elected.

“Is it an absolute?” Howell asked rhetorically about the residency requirement. “No, but it is kind of overshadowing what we’re doing — and that’s an unofficial deadline, I guess I would say.”

A 1992 decision from the state Supreme Court leaves some wiggle room on the one-year residency requirement. The state’s high court said running for office is a fundamental right — and candidates have to know their district before getting in the race.

With litigation a familiar part of the redistricting process, and the potential for the map’s implementation being delayed, candidates like Young may be able to hop into a different district after Nov. 8 and still keep a seat.

Committees in both the West Virginia House of Delegates and state Senate took their first official look Thursday at maps that will inform redistricting plans.

Two main issues are driving this round of the once-each-decade process of redrawing district maps for congressional and state house races.

As a result of population loss noted in the 2020 census, West Virginia will move from three members in the U.S. House of Representatives to two. Additionally, the West Virginia House of Delegates will shift from 100 members spread across 67 districts to 100-single-member districts.

Lawmakers on the House Redistricting Committee got a first look at six different maps that aim to split the state’s nearly 1.8 million residents into two districts.

Among the maps were ideas from Del. Mick Bates and Del. Brandon Steele, both Republicans from Raleigh County. Thornton Cooper, an attorney from South Charleston who attended and spoke at numerous public hearings on redistricting, also submitted a map for consideration.

The House’s six congressional maps have a population variance — the difference in population between the proposed two districts. It ranges from 10 residents on one map to 1,808 on another.

Delegates also reviewed a plan for reworking their own districts. One notable shift under that proposal would change numbering — moving the 1st House District from the northern panhandle to McDowell County, with numbers ascending moving north. The proposal accounts for legislation passed in 2018 that will break the state’s map into 100 single-member districts.

In an afternoon meeting, senators began work discussing 12 proposed configurations for congressional redistricting.

Lawmakers on the panel discussed their hopes to keep similar communities and other geographical identities in the same congressional district. They also discussed significant growth in the state’s Eastern Panhandle versus sharp population losses in the southern part of the state — and how those trends may play out over the next decade.

Lawmakers from both panels will make recommendations to their respective bodies before sending the maps to a vote of their full chamber.

Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan — who chairs the upper chambers redistricting committee — said Thursday he expects Gov. Jim Justice to call a special session on redistricting to coincide with already scheduled interim meetings slated for Oct. 10, 11 and 12.

The first set of West Virginia lawmakers will begin to take up the once-each-decade process of redistricting this week.

A pair of meetings — one in the West Virginia House of Delegates and another from the Senate — come after months of pandemic-related census delays and more than a dozen public hearings on the issue.

Members of the House and Senate’s respective committees will gather Thursday to begin considering maps put forth by each panel. A Joint Committee on Redistricting spent much of the late summer seeking public input.

The House Redistricting Committee will begin work at 9 a.m. Thursday with presentations from Chief Counsel Dan Greer and Committee Analyst Jeff Billings. The committee will also get the chance to look at proposed congressional and state house maps.

West Virginia is losing one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives — and a single electoral vote — following the 2020 census. As a result of legislation in 2018, the state House of Delegates will move from 100 members spread across 67 districts to 100-single member districts.

The Senate committee will also take up some of their own proposed maps, likely focusing on congressional redistricting first.

During an organizational meeting last week, Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, suggested the panel tackle federal-level redraws before the more complex state-level districts.

“I would like to see us do [the congressional districts] first and go through what should be an easier process I would expect, technologically, that we’re dealing with — as we go through possible amendments and those things, as well, to see the time it takes,” Tarr said. “So, I would suggest that we do the congressional districts first.”

Other members of the committee, including Sen. Dave Sypolt, R-Preston, agreed.

As of Wednesday night, the Legislature’s website shows Tarr, Sypolt, Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, and Sen. Glenn Jeffries, D-Putnam, as the only members from the upper chamber’s nine-member redistricting committee to submit maps for consideration ahead of Thursday’s meeting.

Trump, who chairs the Senate committee, proposed eight configurations for the state’s soon-to-be two congressional districts. Jefferies offered two maps, while Tarr and Sypolt proposed one each.

No senators submitted a proposed map dividing the state’s geography to determine new districts in the West Virginia Senate.

After each committee adopts maps, the proposal will move to the full House and Senate in a special session of Legislature, with the new boundaries needing the approval of both sides.

While there is no constitutionally mandated deadline to complete the process, state election law dictates those running for office must reside in their new district for one year prior to an election — putting a de facto deadline for maps to be approved by Nov. 8.

After a public hearing in Parkersburg this month, Trump told West Virginia Public Broadcasting he expects lawmakers to meet that timeline.

“I don’t want to engage in negative thinking,” Trump said about the looming deadline. “If the Legislature is able to — in the second and third weeks of October — enact maps that the governor will sign into law, then I think everything can run its normal course.”

With federal health agencies green-lighting coronavirus vaccine boosters from Pfizer, state leaders in West Virginia are making a push for eligible residents to get another shot. That effort comes as data show that a higher percentage of vaccinated West Virginians are making up those who are hospitalized.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized Wednesday booster doses of Pfizer’s vaccine for a wide swath of people who received a two-dose vaccine from the same company more than six months ago, including:

• individuals 65 years of age and older;
• individuals 18 through 64 years of age at high risk of severe COVID-19; and 
• individuals 18 through 64 years of age whose frequent institutional or occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 puts them at high risk of serious complications of COVID-19 including severe COVID-19.

The FDA authorization of Pfizer boosters comes as the number of West Virginians hospitalized, those in intensive care and those on ventilators has soared past earlier peak numbers recorded in January.

According to data from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, 1,008 West Virginians are hospitalized with the coronavirus, 289 patients are in intensive care units and 187 patients are on a ventilator.

“A bunch of these people are gonna die,” Justice said Friday, noting the continued record-breaking numbers. “We could have stopped this.”

State leaders expressed confidence earlier this week that a surge of new cases — catalyzed by the highly contagious delta variant — has peaked. However, those same officials said it’s likely that hospitalizations, other strains on medical resources and deaths could continue to rise over the coming weeks

Data also indicate that of those who are in hospitals, more and more are from “breakthrough” cases from those who are fully vaccinated.

“We have seen the numbers of fully vaccinated people who are in West Virginia hospitals start to creep up — going from about 13% to about 15% to about 17% — and now around 20% of all West Virginians hospitalized,” State Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh said Friday.

Marsh and Justice are encouraging anyone who had the Pfizer shot more than six months ago to get a booster.

“It is terribly important and very, very, very critical that — if you are especially outside that window — you really need to go get a booster shot,” Justice said.

Justice said that the state has plenty of extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine to accommodate boosters and new vaccinations.

“We’re ready to go and we’re ready to go with Pfizer — and absolutely we’ll let you know on Moderna and Johnson & Johnson as soon as the CDC gives us the go ahead to do so,” the governor said.

Federal drug and health regulators have yet to give approval for booster shots for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccines, although those authorizations could come in the months ahead.