It's Official: Mercer Island Joins the 9th Congressional District

The Washington State Redistricting Commission unanimously approved a plan that would redraw legislative and congressional district lines.

According to the Associated Press, the four members of the commission, which was made of two Republicans and two Democrats, disagreed on details on the legislative districts particularly on the east side of the state.

According to the demographic information on the Washington State Redistricting Commission website, Bellevue and Mercer Island would be in the .

Mercer Island's Congressional representation would change, because the 8th District, represented by  — a Republican who maintains his home district offices on Mercer Island — . Mercer Island's new congressman would be Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from north Tacoma. 

The result will likely mean Reichert's offices on Mercer Island will close this year.

In the Washington State Legislature, Mercer Island will remain in the 41st District and continue to be represented by its current delegation, who all reside within the redrawn boundaries. 

The 41st District was redrawn to further north to exclude several North Renton neighborhoods, including the East Renton Highlands, and to extend further east into North Issaquah and South Sammamish. A map of the redrawn districts in the Puget Sound can be found by clicking on the PDF images attached to this story.

An earlier proposal by State Republicans would have moved south boundary of the district north of Renton's Kennydale neighborhood, where Rep. Marcie Maxwell resides. The approved map retains a much smaller swathe of North Renton which includes Kennydale. 

According to the Redistricting Commission, the approved plan becomes final unless it is amended by the Legislature within 30 days after the beginning of the next regular or special legislative session. The Legislature can change the plan approved by the Redistricting Commission, but any new district boundary lines they propose can affect no more than 2 percent of a district’s population and must be approved by two-thirds of the members of each legislative chamber. The Governor may not veto the Commission’s redistricting plan. There is no final vote of approval on the redistricting plan, and it takes effect 30 days after the legislative session begins.

Changes to Congressional districts are mandated every decade by the U.S. Constitution and the conducts a count of every person residing in the nation to accurately reflect the required principal of proportional representation.

Read Patch's earlier coverage of the redistricting changes to King County Council, State Legislative district, Congressional boundaries.

Details of the agreement can be found on the Redistricting website.