Democrat Gerrymandering in the 15th Legislative District

By Eric Rosane

A Tri-Cities lawmaker drawn out of her home legislative district last month by a federal judge in Seattle says she’s “considering everything” as she looks forward to the final two years serving in her seat.

And on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined an emergency stay that would have blocked the new map from being used in elections this year. Associate Justice Elena Kagan referred it to the high court, which rejected it without comment.

A lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Ninth Circuit will resume, though, with briefs expected in the next couple months, according to reporting from the Washington State Standard.

The legal scramble is a result of the March 15 order by Judge Robert Lasnik, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, in the Trevino v. Palmer case.

Lasnik mandated the use of a new and remedial map after his court determined on Aug. 10 that the redrawn legislative district boundaries made by the Washington Redistricting Commission in 2021 violated the Voting Rights Act and diluted Latino electoral influence in Yakima Valley.

The court ruling and new map have become a lightning rod for Washington state politicians, with Republicans denouncing it as a partisan gerrymander and Democrats blessing the decisions as a benefit to Central Washington Latinos.

Thirteen of Washington’s 49 legislative districts saw changes with the court-appointed map.

And it also had some unintended consequences, too: Five state lawmakers — including state Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco — found their properties and homes drawn out of the districts they represent.

In an interview a few days before the Supreme Court denial, Torres told the Tri-City Herald she wasn’t planning to make any hasty decisions in response to this legal issue that’s been percolating for more than two years.

“I’m just looking at what’s feasible and what’s going to work the best for me and my family,” said Torres, a Latina.

“I won’t have a decision this year. I’m just going to play it by ear and see what we decide, me and my family. For now, it’s not feasible to up and do anything crazy,” she continued.

Torres was drawn out of Washington’s 15th Legislative District. If she doesn’t move, she may have to challenge fellow Republican lawmakers in the 16th Legislative District to remain in Olympia.

Central WA’s first Latina senator

The Pasco lawmaker has been one of the most productive freshman senators in the Washington Legislature. She’s also the first Latina senator to ever represent Central Washington, and the only Republican Latina in the Legislature.

She primary sponsored roughly 38 bills in her first two years in the Legislature, working at the state level to address issues related to housing, public safety, the economy and public schools.

Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee signed four of Torres’ bills into law in the weeks after the 2024 session.

Those include changes, as well as new funds and programs, to help hire more public defenders, especially in rural and underserved communities (SB 5780); expand safety training to include substitute teachers and other temporary school employees (SB 5647); increase per diem days for the state’s largest fire departments (SB 5925); and streamline government land annexations (SB 5885).

“She is someone who can work in a bipartisan fashion,” said Sen. Jesse Salomon, D-Shoreline, in an email.

Salomon serves as vice chair of the Local Government, Land Use and Tribal Affairs Committee, where Torres also serves as a ranking member.

“She worked to pass a bill to get more public defenders to work on the east side of the mountains. That is a bipartisan issues,” he continued.

Since coming into office, Torres has tried to pass a bill that would require state agencies to clearly identify programs and services that can be utilized by undocumented children whose families immigrated to the U.S., also known as the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA).

A U.S. District Court judge on Friday, March 15, ordered the Washington Secretary of State to use a new map for state elections that included significant changes to the Yakima Valley and Tri-Cities. The new map creates legislative districts for more Latino voters to elect candidates of their choice, but also unseats one of the most productive freshman lawmakers in Washington, state Sen. Nikki Torres, a Republican from Pasco. Courtesy U.S. District Court for Western Washington, Seattle

A comparison of the old legislative map, left, and the new. Williams, Laurie

“When I used to work for the (Tri-Cities) Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, I used to meet with groups. One of the groups I met with included a couple students, young adults. They mentioned, ‘We’re DACA recipients. We can’t get professional licenses,’” Torres said.

She describes the bill, SB 5631, as a “government efficiency bill” that lends a hand to Washington’s 30,000 DACA recipients.

Torres said she’s intentional about introducing “sensible,” “bi-partisan” bills that benefit everyday Washingtonians and helps keep workers and residents safer.

She’s a first-generation American whose family came from Mexico without documentation, and she grew up in a family of agriculture workers.

“I have a lot of family here and cousins. Some are DACA and some are born here. Just having that representation, too, I think that’s what really pushed me to run for the (the Legislature),” she said.

Pending any substantial legal changes, Torres will be allowed to serve out the rest of her term, which expires at the end of 2026, as Senator of Washington’s 15th Legislative District.

Her priorities over the next two years include changes to child care, combating human trafficking, seeing what comes of the state Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force, and continuing work to retain and recruit public defenders.

U.S. Supreme Court request

Although Democrat-appointed state redistricting commissioners turned down an opportunity by the U.S. District Court to reconvene and draw up a more fair map, Torres said she still believes the bi-partisan redistricting model remains the best method that Washington can use to redraw its boundaries every 10 years after the U.S. census.

“It provides transparency and it gives people from both sides (the opportunity) to choose members who can be part of that committee,” she said, adding that it tapers expectations from outside special interest groups.

But she argues Judge Lasnik’s map disenfranchises Hispanics while helping Washington Democrats make gains in Central Washington.

The judge’s new map swaps Latino voters and Democratic voters between the 14th and 15th Legislative Districts, giving Democrats a new 15-point advantage in the 14th. Additionally, the percent of Hispanic voting age population in Torres’ district, the 15th, dropped by 38 points to create a new majority-minority district in the 14th.

“The Latino community of interest that stretches from east Yakima, through the smaller Latino population centers along the Yakima River, to Pasco is unified in a single legislative district,” Lasnik asserted in his March 15 order.

“… the new configuration provides Latino voters with an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to the state Legislature, especially with the shift into an even-numbered district, which ensures that state Senate elections will fall on a presidential year when Latino voter turnout is generally higher,” he continued.

In the emergency stay request filed to the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys representing Jose Trevino, Ismael Campos and state Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, described the state’s new 14th as an “octopus slithering along the ocean floor” with its tentacles strewn about.

The attorneys also included details of Torres’ 2022 general election victory as an example that Latinos could handily win the district — she trounced an opponent in a 36-point landslide to earn her first term.

Opponents sought an order preventing its use in this year’s elections. The legal fight over the boundaries will continue in federal appeals court.

BY: JERRY CORNFIELD – APRIL 2, 2024 5:23 PM

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday steered clear of Washington state’s redistricting battle.

Without comment, the high court refused to block use of new legislative district boundaries intended to give Latino voters in the Yakima Valley a better chance of electing the candidate of their choosing.

Tuesday’s decision clears the way for use of the controversial redrawing of the 15th Legislative District and a dozen other affected districts for this year’s elections.

Opponents, including state Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, sought an emergency stay of U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik’s March 15 rulingthat put the new map in place. They went to the Supreme Court after a three-judge federal appeals court also declined to intercede.

The underlying lawsuit before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is still alive. The two sides will spar before that court in two months. That’s when briefs in the case are due. A decision could now only affect maps from 2026 onward.

All this was touched off by a lawsuit filed by Latino voters who argued the map crafted by the bipartisan Washington State Redistricting Commission and approved by state lawmakers in early 2022 violated federal law by impairing the ability of Latino voters to participate equally in elections.

Lasnik agreed, ruling last summer that the configuration diluted the Latino vote and must be redrawn in time for the 2024 elections.

The new map “cements last year’s historic ruling” and is “a huge win for Latino voters in the Yakima Valley and for fair representation,” said attorney Simone Leeper of the Campaign Legal Center, which led the legal team that brought the suit.

The redrawn district at the center of the controversy will encompass communities from East Yakima to Pasco and include Wapato, Toppenish, Grainger, Sunnyside and nearly all of the historic lands of the Yakama Nation Reservation.

Lasnik also approved renumbering the 15th district as 14th. That means the district’s legislative positions, including the state Senate seat, will be on ballots in presidential election years starting this year.

Plaintiffs argued that the Latino community will have a better chance to elect a candidate of their choosing in these years because that is when turnout of Latino voters is historically higher.

A different group of Latino voters, including Ybarra, contended the new map makes “a mockery of the Voting Rights Act” for “transparent partisan gains.” The new district will have a smaller percentage of voting-age Hispanics than the invalidated district but the partisan performance will shift in Democrats favor, they stated in legal briefs.

What’s next?

Tuesday’s decision allowed the Secretary of State’s Office to give affected counties “definitive guidance” on how to proceed, said Stuart Holmes, the state elections director.

Overall, 13 legislative districts across 12 counties, including Yakima, Clark, Benton, King and Pierce, will be redrawn. The counties have until April 29 to alter precinct boundaries. Candidate filing begins May 6 for this year’s elections.

In some counties, the new boundaries follow existing precinct lines so the changeover will be somewhat easier, Holmes said.

Several counties will require significant changes to existing precincts in order to implement the new boundaries. In those cases, the new precincts will need to be drawn and adopted by the county legislative authority, he said. 

Registered voters will not need to take any action. They will be automatically moved into new districts and receive a new voter registration card, he said.

Five of the region’s state lawmakers – all Republicans – will find themselves living in new districts due to the redrawn boundaries. 

The most notable is Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, elected in the 15th District by an overwhelming margin in 2022. She will be in the 16th District. Torres, the Senate’s only Republican Latina, is able to complete her term even though she won’t be living within the 15th’s boundaries.

Other lawmakers affected are Sens. Brad Hawkins of East Wenatchee and Curtis King of Yakima, and Reps. Chris Corry of Yakima and Gina Mosbrucker of Goldendale.

By Claire Withycombe

April 3, 2024 at 6:00 am Updated April 3, 2024 at 6:00 am

Seattle Times staff reporter

OLYMPIA — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an attempt to stay a recent court decision that will alter the boundaries of several legislative districts in Central Washington in the wake of a voting-rights lawsuit.

In mid-March, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik approved a new map after ruling last year that the current map impaired the ability of Latino voters in the Yakima Valley and Pasco areas to elect their preferred candidates. A group of Latino voters had filed a lawsuit challenging the map approved by Washington’s redistricting commission in 2021, arguing the districts diluted the voting power of Latinos in the region.

Opponents had appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which denied a stay on March 22. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an attempt to stay Lasnik’s ruling.

The redrawn boundaries mean that Democrats could pick up more seats in the Legislature, where they already hold strong majorities.

Voting rights advocates and Democrats have welcomed the new map, which will be used in this year’s legislative elections, but Republicans have blasted it.

Sonni Waknin, program manager and voting rights counsel at the UCLA Voting Rights Project, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Latino voters, said in a statement that “the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that Washington State will use a lawful map for the next general election.”

“This decision guarantees that all voters can participate, assured their votes count on a map adhering to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act,” Waknin said.

On Tuesday, Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, said in a statement that the new map was “racially discriminatory.”

“All this partisan gerrymandered map does is help Democrats to a greater share of political power,” Braun said.

Material from The Seattle Times archives is included in this report.

Claire Withycombe: 206-464-2578 or cwithycombe@seattletimes.com; Claire Withycombe is a Seattle Times staff reporter covering state government.

By Gloria Mendoza

March 25, 2024 at 3:32 pm

Special to The Seattle Times

Every 10 years, Washington undergoes redistricting to equalize population shifts in legislative districts. Many Eastern Washington Hispanics were thrilled at the results in the latest round — there was a new Yakima Valley district where Latinos formed 73% of the population and a majority of the eligible voters. But Democrats said it did not do enough, and in 2022, they sued.

Many Eastern Washington Hispanics see the lawsuit as outrageous.

The new map issued by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik on March 15 will disenfranchise many in my community.  It will also affect 13 legislative districts, 10 or 11 which are outside the Yakima Valley.  But the ones of most importance to me are where I live in Eastern Washington.

Lasnik is Democrat-appointed and is based in Seattle. He presumed to judge the state redistricting commission’s new maps based on how well they do in electing a so-called “Latino preferred candidate.”

And what is a “Latino preferred candidate” to Judge Lasnik?  That candidate would be a Democrat.

I am doubtful that an Anglo Seattleite is the best-qualified judge of what Eastern Washington Hispanics prefer. In the parlance of Seattle, how can such an arbiter understand the “lived experience” of those of us in the Yakima Valley?

Lasnik invited liberal Eastern Washington Hispanics into his courtroom to testify that they want to vote for a Democrat. But his curiosity about doing right for the Eastern Washington Hispanic community apparently ended there.

Judge Lasnik, here is what you should know: Eastern Washington Hispanics are hard-working. We are extremely family-oriented. Many of us have deep faith. We are very committed to our state and country.

We are also not the monolithic liberal voting bloc that those with a Seattle-centered worldview would like to imagine. We are Republicans. We are Independents. We are Democrats.

In fact, a March 5 Wall Street Journal column by William Galston looked at the recent NY Times/Siena national poll and found that while President Joe Biden prevailed among Hispanic voters by 21 points in 2020, he now trails by six with us. Only 31% of Hispanics approve of Biden’s performance as president; 67% disapprove. Only 20% of Hispanics describe themselves as liberal, 44% as moderate, and 30% as conservative.

In the conservative farming communities of the Yakima Valley, those conservative numbers could very well be even higher.

Judge Lasnik should have refrained from making generalizations or assumptions about the political affiliations of Hispanic individuals. It is crucial to recognize that the Hispanic community is diverse, consisting of people with varying political beliefs, ideologies and cultural backgrounds. Assuming that all Hispanics are Democrats not only undermines the complexity of our political views but also perpetuates prejudice and misunderstanding.

As a responsible judicial figure, Lasnik has a duty to uphold the law. By avoiding such assumptions, he could have ensured that every individual, regardless of their ethnicity or background, received equal treatment under the law.

Lasnik should have been mindful of the potential consequences of making unwanted assumptions about the political affiliations of Hispanics. If he had done so, he could have contributed to fostering a more inclusive and just society where everyone is valued and respected based on their unique qualities and beliefs.

We have been thrilled with the election of one of our own to the state Senate in the 15th Legislative District. Nikki Torres beat her opponent by 35 points. Finally, we have someone visiting our communities who worked in the fields alongside her family. She speaks our language. She shares our American dream.

And what is Sen. Torres’ failing in Judge Lasnik’s eyes? She is a Republican.

The map the judge approved takes the majority Hispanic district she represents which is marginally Republican (+1.8% Republican), and turns the majority Hispanic district massively Democratic (+12.0% Democrat).

And the topper? The judge favors a map that cuts the population of the district with the highest Hispanic citizen voting age in the Yakima Valley (from 52.6% to 50.2%) and throws Sen. Torres out of her district and into another one with a Republican incumbent. This will force her to give up her current seat and run a very difficult race in a new district. Alternatively, she could just finish her term in her current district and then be out of a job.

The judge says he needs to do this to satisfy the requirements of the federal Voting Right Act. The VRA is supposed to help minorities — not be used to disenfranchise them.

Judge Lasnik’s map is nothing less than partisan political gerrymandering, which in the name of helping Hispanics will actually disenfranchise many of us — including our outstanding Sen. Torres.

Gloria Mendoza is president/CEO of GMC Training Institute and was mayor of Grandview, Yakima County, 2018-23 and a city councilmember 2015-18.

Sue Lani Madsen
For The Spokesman-Review

In a Democrat-controlled state, when a federal judge appointed by a Democrat president makes a decision on redistricting that affects no incumbent Democrats and multiple Republicans, voters may reasonably be skeptical of the impartiality of the results.

New legislative district maps were drawn after the 2020 census. Democrats had insisted the Yakima Valley needed a majority-minority district where Hispanic voters made up over 50% of the population, and the bipartisan redistricting commission delivered one. It was approved by the state Supreme Court and adopted by the Democratically controlled Legislature as required by state law.

But it wasn’t Hispanic enough to suit at least one voter.

Palmer v. Hobbs was brought in January 2022 by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a well-funded Los Angeles-based nonprofit. Influence Watch describes the group as a “left-wing litigation and advocacy group … with a number of MALDEF alumni taking senior roles or being nominated to high-level positions in Democratic administrations at the federal, state, and local levels.”

Ironically for the plaintiffs, in the first election held under the new map, Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, defeated Democrat Lindsey Keesling with 67.68% of the vote in November 2022 in the majority-minority 15th Legislative District.

And now, as a result of the MALDEF lawsuit the first Latina senator elected from Eastern Washington is being forced out of her district because the judge accepted as fact an assertion that Hispanic voters prefer Democrats in spite of her landslide election. Imagine the front page uproar from Hobbs and Ferguson if this was a right-wing advocacy group forcing out a Democrat.

In the case of Palmer v. Hobbs, it was political from the beginning. When Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, also a Democrat, was sued over the results of Washington’s bipartisan redistricting commission, voters could reasonably expect Hobbs to put up a fight. Instead Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a “notice that defendant Hobbs takes no position.”

Setting up the court to make a political decision erodes confidence in the judiciary.

The “intervenor defendants” added to the case while Hobbs sat on the sidelines include Mayor Jose Trevino, of Granger; Ismael G. Campos, of Kennewick; and Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy.

According to Ferguson’s official website, the role of the Attorney General is to “provide legal representation to the state of Washington, its agencies, and state officials acting in their official capacities.” The attorney general’s office confirmed by email that includes the redistricting commission.

In his opinion on the Palmer v. Hobbs case issued Aug. 10, Judge Robert S. Lasnik relied on expert testimony comparing the “2022 legislative priorities of Washington’s Latino Civic Alliance (“LCA”) to the voting records of the legislators from the Yakima Valley region” and concluding the incumbent legislators in three districts were insufficiently supportive of the political agenda of the LCA.

It sure looks and smells political.

We need a judiciary committed to staying out of politics, but the blame doesn’t entirely fall on the judges. Both political parties eagerly run to court when the political process doesn’t go their way.

Federal Way Judge Dave Larson, candidate for the state Supreme Court, declined to weigh in on the specific case but noted judges “have to use judicial restraint to stay away from decisions that are purely political and make the parties use the political process to make those decisions.”

Judge Lasnik tried to step out of the way in the case. In August he ordered new maps be drawn and adopted by Feb. 7, with a report in Jan. 8 “notifying the Court on whether a reconvened Commission was able to redraw and transmit to the Legislature a revised map by that date.”

But the bipartisan redistricting commission was not reconvened, which meant the judge was presented with partisan maps to choose from. His March 15 order adopted a map that redraws not only Sen. Torres’ district, but also those of Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, and Sen. Brad Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee, as well as Republican representatives.

According to the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, the new map moves more than 500,000 people in 13 districts, and “In comparison, the intervenors offered a map with around 80,000 people moved in only three districts.”

When Hobbs declined to take a position on the state’s bipartisan process, he exposed the judiciary to charges of partisanship. And when the Democratic leadership in the Legislature refused to reconvene the bipartisan redistricting commission, it put the judge in an impossible position. Whichever map he picked would be attacked by the losing party.

Brionna Aho responded on behalf of the attorney general’s office stating they had “hired a pre-eminent expert on the Voting Rights Act to respond to the arguments presented by the plaintiffs and interveners” which resulted in filing a brief supporting the plaintiff.

Probably won’t find the results in this case highlighted by Hobbs or by Ferguson’s gubernatorial campaign. Conservative Hispanic voters my not take kindly to being stereotyped as Democrats.

Contact Sue Lani Madsen at rulingpen@gmail.com.

SEATTLE—Judge Robert Lasnik, of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, ordered the adoption of a redistricting map that impacts the boundaries of 13 legislative districts—12 Republican and 1 Democratic—and which redistricts out several Republican and no Democratic lawmakers ahead of 2024 General Election.

Judge Lasnik’s decision stems from a January 19, 2022, challenge to the legislative redistricting plan drawn by the Washington State Redistricting Commission and approved by the Washington Legislature. Plaintiff Susan Soto Palmer and seven others, alleged that Legislative District 15 was drawn “to create the façade of a Latino opportunity district but in fact dilutes Latino voting power in violation of Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act.”

The plaintiffs further argued that the approved redistricting map in the Yakima Valley and Pasco by the Legislature, “is unlikely to afford Latino voters an equal opportunity to elect their candidates of choice.”

Judge Lasnik denied the plaintiff’s requests for an injunction to not implement the legislature-approved Washington State Redistricting Commission map in place for the 2022 election cycle. The case went to trail in June of 2023, where Judge Lansik ruled on August 10, 2023, that the legislature-approved Washington State Redistricting Commission map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act— prohibiting voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership—and must be redrawn.

“[T]he Court finds that the boundaries of LD 15, in combination with the social, economic, and historical conditions in the Yakima Valley region, results in an inequality in the electoral opportunities enjoyed by white and Latino voters in the area,” Judge Lansik wrote in his August opinion.

The decision was appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on September 8, 2023, and on November 3, a petition for a writ of certiorari was filed to the U.S. Supreme Court. On February 20, 2024, the Supreme Court denied the intervenor-defendants’ petition.

An evidentiary hearing took place in March 2024 for which Judge Lansik made his ruling on Friday, March 15, selecting Remedial Map 3B that was drawn by consultants, not the bipartisan Washington State Redistricting Commission. 

 

The Lasnik-approved map that redistricts 13 legislative districts, scheduled to take effect this year if not overturned. SOURCE: https://x.com/JimWalshLD19/status/1768764056708812873

“WA voters should be disturbed by the opinion issued today from federal Judge Robert Lasnik in the matter of WA’s recent legislative redistricting plan,” Jim Walsh, Washington State Republican Party Chair and House Representative of the 19^th District posted to X. “The opinion is a heavy-handed, partisan usurpation of the Washington Redistricting Commission’s lawful and orderly work.”

In a press release by Latina Senator Nikki Torres (R-Yakima Valley), who represents Legislative District 15, center of the map dispute, she calls the judge’s actions a “mockery of the Voting Rights Act.”

“The Voting Rights Act was supposed to empower affected minority populations,” she wrote, “This map DECREASES the number of Hispanics in the Majority Minority district and redistricts out the first Hispanic Senator in eastern Washington history.”

If the map stands, Republican Senator Torres along with fellow Republican senators Curtis King, who represents the 14^th Legislative District and is the ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee, and Brad Hawkins, who represents the 12^th Legislative District and is the ranking Republican on the District Early Learning & K-12 Education, to be redistricted out.

Torres also alleges that three House Republican members will also be redistricted out. No Democratic Party lawmakers from either chamber of the legislature will be redistricted out, according to the Lasnik map.

“This map DISENFRANCHISES Hispanics – all to help the Democratic party gain seats towards a supermajority in the legislature,” she adds.

In an X post on October 12, 2023, Washington State Democratic Party Chair, Shasti Conrad, signaled that her goal was for her party to be a supermajority by 2026.

Conrad praised Judge Lasnik’s decision of choosing Remedial Map 3B.

“Today is a great day for democracy as Washington state gains a new legislative district map that prioritizes diverse voices,” Conrad wrote. “We greatly appreciate that Washington’s judiciary recognized the need to rectify systemic racism in the central region of our state. This is a sensible map which upholds our state’s Constitutional requirements and empowers voters in Central Washington. Our Party will be working overtime to engage and activate constituent communities in the 14th Legislative District in this year’s elections and build our Democratic majority.”

Washington Republican Party Chair, Jim Walsh, told the Lynnwood Times in a phone conversation on March 15 that Republican House Minority Leader, Andrew Stokesbary, an attorney who is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, is in the process of filing an emergency appeal to the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Lasnik’s opinion is a mistake,” wrote Walsh on X. “It actually DILUTES the number of Latino voters in the key district. It makes a mess of a dozen LDs. It needs to be stayed & appealed. A less-partisan appeals court will likely develop a more reasonable solution to WA’s redistricting issues.”

Republican Senate Leader, John Braun, called the Lasnik map, “shameful.”

“That this judge would allow the Voting Rights Act to be used to redistrict Sen. Torres out of her district is frankly outrageous,” wrote Braun in a statement to the Lynnwood Times. “The Voting Rights Act was designed to help our minority citizens, not disenfranchise them.  In this case, the judge also reduces the number of Hispanics in central Washington’s majority minority district.”

He shared that Washington State Senate and House Democrats refused to reconvene the bipartisan Redistricting panel “because they knew that the bipartisan mechanism in it would foil their desire for gerrymandered maps.  This decision is not a repudiation of the Commission.  It is a repudiation of current Democratic legislative leadership.”

Below are the known impacts, according to Senator Torres, of the Lasnik-map for Washington state:

• LOWERS the numbers of Hispanics from the current 52.6% to 50.2% (comparing LD’s 14 and 15).
• Moves the first eastern Washington Latina elected Senator – Senator Nikki Torres – from the district which she won handily into a wholly new district with another incumbent Republican Senator – LD 16.
• Redistricts out Sen. Curtis King (LD 14).
• Redistricts out Sen. Brad Hawkins (LD 12).
• Likely redistricts out three Republican House members.
• Eliminates the Yakima Valley district that is a “toss-up” swing district (+1.8% GOP) and packs the other Yakima Valley district, which is already heavily Republican (+9.4% GOP), with more Republicans (+21.7% GOP). This allows the “toss-up” district to become solidly Democrat (+12%).
• Transforms a SW Washington district (LD 17) and another central Washington district (LD 12) into much more competitive districts for Democrats.
• Makes a massive disruption of people throughout the state. More than 500,000 people are moved affecting 13 districts – 12 of which are Republican and 1 Democrat. In comparison, the intervenors offered a map with around 80,000 people moved in only three districts. The intervenor map was rejected. Legally, maps are supposed to make the minimal changes needed to remedy the violation.

Judge Robert Lasnik was nominated to the federal District Court of Western Washington by former President Bill Clinton (D) on May 11, 1998, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 21, 1998. He received his commission the following day and is now a senior judge for the court.

Prior to his appointment, Lasnik served as a superior court judge on the King County Superior Court and worked in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office as a senior deputy prosecutor and chief of staff.