OLYMPIA, Washington — Redistricting commissioners Tim Ceis and Slade Gorton, tasked with developing WA’s congressional maps, propose the historic creation of WA’s first majority-minority congressional district. 50.3% of the new 9th congressional district will comprise of people of color, just over half of the district. The district would encompass Southeast Seattle, Bellevue, Northern Tacoma and South King County with the majority-minority cities of Kent, Renton, Seatac and Tukwila.
“We are pleased that the Commissioners listened to our communities to create WA’s first ever majority-minority congressional district that promotes the voting power and civic participation of communities of color,” said Pramila Jayapal, One America executive director.
“The elected representative of this congressional district must fight to win our support by paying attention to the issues of our marginalized communities,” expressed Nate Miles of the United for Fair Representation coalition. “In Congress, they must work diligently on behalf of our ever-growing community to confront disparities that exist in health, education and income.
“We now look forward to the release of the Eastern WA legislative district maps and hope that commissioners listened to the voices of Latinos in WA and created two Latino majority population (9th and 15th) legislative districts,” said Fe Lopez, coalition member and president of the Latino Bar Association of WA.
The redistricting commission heard unprecedented testimony from communities of color throughout the state about the need for the new district lines to reflect the growth of communities of color over the last decade. The United for Fair Representation coalition turned out 500 Unity Map supporters to almost all 18 redistricting forums around the state.
Please find more information at www.fairrepresentationwa.org.
