Redistricting could change the face of the General Assembly

March 2011

Following last year’s census, legislators will redraw the districts for the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates seats later this year. New district boundaries could result in profound changes in the make-up of the General Assembly. All 140 seats are up for election this November. Primaries will be held on Aug. 23, a change from the usual June schedule.

The redrawn legislative maps are treated like a normal piece of legislation and must pass both the Democratic-controlled Senate and Republican-held House. While there have been calls for non-partisan or bi-partisan redistricting panels to develop the districts, any move to change how the districts are made has to be approved by the General Assembly. Gov. Bob McDonnell has appointed an independent bipartisan redistricting commission to develop a redistricting plan or accept from the public proposed plans for redistricting. However, any recommendations made by the commission would not be binding on the General Assembly.
 
The Medical Society of Virginia Political Action Committee (MSVPAC) and the Medical Society of Virginia’s (MSV) government affairs staff will be closely monitoring the redistricting process to evaluate how redistricting will affect whether friends of medicine will be able to retain their seats as well as evaluate opportunities to support candidates running in open seats. We already anticipate that next year’s General Assembly will include new faces as a handful of legislators are expected to announce their retirements.

You can help ensure that candidates are aware of MSV’s priorities and issues by supporting MSVPAC financially. Your contributions to MSVPAC are used to make political contributions to candidates for office who support MSV’s positions. With 140 seats up for election and, as of now, an unknown number of those seats will have competitive races following district changes and retirements, MSVPAC needs to be prepared to tell candidates about medicine’s priorities. To support MSVPAC this year, visit www.msvpac.org and click “Contribute”.