The Washington State Redistricting Commission outlined a draft congressional plan today that puts most of Thurston County including Olympia in the new 10th Congressional District, while shifting U.S. Rep. Adam Smith’s 9th district northward to become a minority-dominated district that ranges from northeast Tacoma to Renton, south Seattle, and Bellevue. The plan also preserves Tacoma as an urban anchor in Tacoma for Rep. Norm Dicks’ sprawling 6th district that retains the Olympic Peninsula and sends part of Rep. Dave Reichert’s 8th district over the Cascades into Eastern Washington.
The bipartisan draft map appears to leave Democrats with strong positions in five districts including Smith and Dicks, Republicans with strong positions in four districts including Reichert and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in the 3rd, which retains a band of south Thurston County, all of Southwest Washington and all of Klickitat County east of the Cascades.
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