Iowa Redistricting Would Force Incumbents to Face Off

A proposed Iowa congressional map released last week would toss veteran Republican Reps. James A. Leach and Jim Nussle into the same district, while creating a new district with no incumbents.

The map, proposed by the Legislature’s nonpartisan bill-drafting arm, is far different from the current one, reflecting shifts over the last decade that have boosted the population of the Des Moines area and cities like Cedar Rapids and Iowa City in the eastern part of the state.

Lawmakers will vote on the maps after two weeks of review and public hearings. States must redraw their congressional district lines every 10 years after census figures come out. Unlike many states, Iowa keeps the same number of districts in the new census--five.

Leach, the former Banking Committee chairman first elected in 1976, and Nussle, the current Budget Committee chairman first elected in 1990, both live in the same new district in the eastern part of the state.

Leach spokesman Bill Tate says the plan “is mathematically pure, but changes congressional districts rather dramatically. It is always difficult to lose counties that have been represented for over a decade.”

Tate said Leach was mulling his options, but had no intention of leaving Congress.

Nussle spokesman Scott Bruns said he had not yet studied the map.

Iowa Republican Chairman Chuck Larson suggested that Nussle, who lives on the fringe of the new 1st District, could move into northern Iowa’s 3rd District.

“It would literally be a six- or seven-mile hop for him,” Larson said.

Republican Rep. Tom Latham is currently in that district, but he in turn could move into the sprawling 5th District, where he already has a part-time home, Larson said. That new western district has no incumbent.

Plans for legislative districts also created conflict. Twenty of 50 current state senators are paired up in new districts, as are 50 incumbents of the 100-member House.

State Rep. Pam Jochum, who helps devise Democratic legislative strategy, said the congressional maps are very friendly to her party. “On a macro level I like it,” she said.

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Redistricting information: www.legis.state.ia.us/Redist/Redist.html