Maryland Senator Getty Proposes Congressional Redistricting
Plan That Preserves 6th Congressional District
October 10, 2011
Senator Joe Getty (R-Carroll & Baltimore) announced
today that he will introduce a bill during the special session of the Maryland
General Assembly that preserves the current configuration of the 6th
Congressional District.
“The 6th Congressional District has a strong and rich
tradition of leadership by talented representatives who, regardless of party
affiliation, have understood the needs and priorities of their rural
constituency,” said Senator Getty. “The purpose of the plan adopted by the
Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Committee (GRAC) is to end that tradition by
diluting the rural population with urban Montgomery County residents in order
to tilt the political character of the district in favor of a Democrat
candidate.”
The redistricting plan proposed by Senator Getty would
retain all of Frederick and Carroll counties and the northern sections of
Baltimore and Harford counties similar to the 6th District’s current
configuration. In addition to preserving the 6th Congressional District, the
plan would remove the oddly distorted 3rd Congressional District from the
Baltimore metropolitan region and shift it to become a minority majority
district encompassing the central parts of Montgomery and Prince George’s
counties.
“This redistricting proposal truly reflects the changing
demographics of Maryland as revealed by the 2010 federal census,” Senator Getty
added. “I did not begin with the premise that the purpose of redistricting was
to protect the current incumbents’ stranglehold on power. Instead, I drew a map
that represents the diverse communities of the state by insuring continuation
of representation of rural citizens in Western Maryland as well as creating a
new district for the burgeoning minority population in the Washington, D.C.,
suburbs.”
In analyzing the 2010 census data, Getty said, “The state of
Maryland grew at 9% over the last decade and that entire growth cycle was due
to statewide increases in minority population primarily within the Hispanic
community. My proposed map follows the intent of the 1965 Voting Rights Act by
creating a third minority district to reflect Maryland’s changing demographic
trends and to protect minority voting rights.”
[…]
Maryland Redistricting, 6th Maryland
Congressional District, Carroll and Frederick Counties, Maryland Senator Joe
Getty (R-Carroll & Baltimore), Secretary Jeanne Hitchcock, Republican Rep.
Roscoe G. Bartlett, Governor's Redistricting Advisory Committee (GRAC), Maryland
Sen. David R. Brinkley, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley
[20111010 Getty Redist Plan - Press Release Complete]
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