Arizona’s Senate leader changed his mind about trying to redraw the state's congressional district lines.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that sections of the Voting Rights Act are unconstitutional, making it illegal to take race into consideration in redistricting.
Following that decision, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) said he and other GOP legislators planned to file a lawsuit this year to require the commission tasked with drawing Arizona’s lines to redraw them.
Petersen said Monday that’s not the plan anymore.
“Their sentiment — the current redistricting commission — was that the lines would be very similar so a lawsuit probably wouldn’t make much sense,” Petersen said.
Since the Supreme Court decision came down on April 29, a handful of states have redistricted and will use new maps in this year’s midterm general election.
Those states — Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Tennessee — are different from Arizona in a key way.
In those four states, the legislatures are tasked with drawing congressional maps, and the legislatures are controlled by Republicans.
In Arizona, the Legislature is also controlled by Republicans, but the maps are drawn by the Independent Redistricting Commission, which is balanced between Republicans, Democrats and an independent.
The IRC last met in 2021 and isn’t set to meet again to redraw Arizona’s lines until 2031.
Petersen said his change of mind is not because Republicans realized the new districts could be drawn in a way that actually favors Democrats more.
The idea that redistricting could work in Democrats’ favor is something Sen. Ruben Gallego believes. But University of Arizona political science professor Chad Westerland told KJZZ neither major political party could know for sure how the new maps would shake out.
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Find everything you need to know about elections in Arizona and Maricopa County from KJZZ's politics team. -
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