Redistricting Map for House Districts 19 & 20.

I would like to clarify what happened during the approval of the new redistricting maps by the House, which were also approved by the Senate.

I am the incumbent living in present House District 19 and Representative Holly Grange is the incumbent living in present District 20. The base map that was used for this redistricting was drawn by the Democrat Plaintiff's expert witness. There was no consideration given to double-bunking two or more incumbents in the same newly drawn Districts. The new map showed no incumbent residing in District 19 and showed both Holly Grange and I residing in District 20.

The Court had stated that addressing double-bunking was a permissible reason for amending the map and redrawing a particular House District, so there were several Districts where double bunking needed to be addressed by the bi-partisan Redistricting Committee, which included District 20. Representative Grange had previously announced that she was going to run for Governor, but she has not filed yet. There is legal precedent that if an incumbent has announced that they are going to run for another office, and not yet officially filed for that office, they would not be considered as an incumbent for redistricting purposes. So Holly Grange and I did not contest us both living in the new District 20. If this had not been the case, then new District 19 would have had to be redrawn to include my residence, which would have caused other precincts in Districts to be changed so that the number of voters would be as equal as possible.

During the Session where the full House voted on the recommendations of the Redistricting Committee, Representative Grange clarified that she will be running for Governor and she will not be running for re-election to the House. So, I will be running as the incumbent in House District 20, and House District 19 will be an open seat with no incumbent running for re-election.

Please be aware that if the Redistricting Maps approved by the Legislature are not also approved by the Court, all of the explanation above will be null and void.
Thanks, Rep. Ted Davis Jr.