1999 Congressional Districts
However, the 11 members of the House of Representatives represent less than 10% of the state's population. Every two years, they campaign in just their district. You won't see Rep. Bobby Scott campaigning for votes in Charlottesville, or supporters of Rep. Virgil Goode handing out sample ballots at Metro stations in Arlington. Candidates for the House of Representatives may attend fund-raising events across the state (especially in Richmond and Northern Virginia), but the members of the House of Representatives have a narrower focus than members of the Senate. They represent their districts, not the entire state, and it's good politics to focus on issues of concern to their geographical region.
The 11 districts for the House geography of the districts affect campaign styles. In Northern Virginia, Rep. Tom Davis can visit all the precincts in the 11th District easily (though he'll have to fight the urban traffic jams). He can purchase advertising on one radio station such as WTOP, and reach his entire district with one "buy." In contrast, Rep. Rick Boucher in the 9th District has to drive for a half-day just to get from Cumberland Gap to Roanoke. Using radio and TV in his campaign requires more complex calculations regarding what stations reach which geographical areas, in addition to the standard assessments of what type of voter listens to country vs. Top 40 music...
Redistricting is required to ensure each person had equal representation in elections to the House of Delegates, State Senate, and US House of Representatives, as well as in local elections for City/Town Councils and county Boards of Supervisors. The Supreme Court decision requiring such equitable balance was described in 1962 as the "one man-one vote" decision. The gender-based term may not be politically-correct today, but that decision, together with the 1965 Voting Rights Act, forced a dramatic break from traditional Virginia electoral procedures 40 years ago.
How the boundaries are drawn can dramatically affect the number of Democrat or Republicans who win election. There is always some "gerrymandering" (the term honors Elbridge Gerry, who drew a boundary in Massachusetts that resembled a salamander in the late 1700's). Savvy politicians who understand geography, and particularly those able to apply Geographic Information System technology effectively, can consciously include/exclude in a district the individual precincts with a traditional voting record.
How do the political scientists shape districts to determine the outcome of an election?
Remember, all elections in Virginia (with five exceptions) are by districts. You need only a plurality of the votes to win in each district. (The five statewide elections are for two Senators, one Governor, one Lieutenant Governor, and one Attorney General.) It's OK if all but one of your candidates win in a squeaker while the race in that one other district is lost by a landslide. Gerrymandering can facilitate electing more members of your party even if the total statewide vote is not in your favor.
The 1999 elections for the General Assembly were so intense, and attracted
so much funding from out of state, in part because those members elected
in 1999 were in office after the Census of 2000 and the districts were redrawn
to maintain a balance of population.
Redistricting occurs between the decennial censuses as well. The Third Congressional District was redrawn several times in the 1990's, but always with the objective of concentrating enough urban black Democrats into one district. The district boundaries hooked an extension across Hampton Roads into the urban precincts in Norfolk that had a high percentage of black residents. That split the city's representation between the Second and Third Congressional districts and facilitated the election of Rep. Bobby Scott, a black Democrat, from the Third District. In the process, the redistricting also moved those Democratic voters out of the adjacent Seventh District represented by Republican Rep. Tom Bliley at the time.
Bliley, a former mayor of Richmond, had been elected from the Third District when it was centered on the state capital and its suburbs. The Democratic General Assembly redrew the boundaries after the 1990 Census to force two Republican members of Congress into one district. The Seventh District boundaries were drawn to be safely-Republican, to represent the predominantly-white precincts in the west end of the city and the suburbs of Chesterfield plus several counties stretching up the colonial-era "mountain road" (US 33) to the Blue Ridge.
Rep. Tom Bliley from Richmond's suburbs ran in the new Seventh District, while Rep. George Allen from Charlottesville left the U.S. Congress. Just as the Democrats had expected, the Democratic redistricting succeeded in forcing one Republican out of office... but the maneuver backfired. George Allen then ran for governor, served for 4 very popular years, and then defeated Senator Charles Robb in the November, 2000 election as the Republican party took control of the last of the 5 statewide offices (in addition to the House of Delegates and State Senate in 1999).
