Process

Washington state has used a bipartisan redistricting commission to draw its districts since the passage of a ballot initiative in 1983. The Democratic and Republican parties each appoint two people to the commission, and the four appointees select a fifth member to serve as the nonvoting chair of the commission. For the 2020 redistricting cycle, the Democrats appointed April Sims, secretary-treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, and Brady Piñero Walkinshaw, CEO of Grist and a former member of the Washington House of Representatives. The Republicans chose Paul Graves, a lawyer and former member of the Washington House of Representatives, and Joe Fain, president and CEO of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce and a former member of the Washington Senate. They selected Sarah Augustine, executive director of the Dispute Resolution Center for Yakima and Kittitas counties, as chair.^[1]

Failure of the commission

The commission was required to approve a final set of district maps by 11:59 PM on November 15, 2021. However, for the first time since the process was enacted in 1983, the deadline was not met. Although the commission approved a set of maps with seconds to go before midnight, they did not vote to transmit those maps until after the deadline had passed.^[2] The members of the commission faced widespread criticism for missing the deadline and for making negotiations behind closed doors rather than in front of the public. Some speculated that the actions of the commission may have violated Washington's Open Public Meetings Act, which generally prohibits public commissions from making decisions in private, and the Washington Supreme Court demanded that the redistricting commission produce a detailed timeline of what occurred in the hours before the deadline. Because the commission failed to meet the deadline, the Washington Supreme Court took over responsibility for the state's maps.^[3][4]

Several Washington politicians expressed disappointment that the commission failed and that the supreme court would be drawing the state's maps. Republican former state senator Ann Rivers claimed that it was "fair to wonder" if some members of the commission wanted to miss the deadline so that the majority-liberal supreme court could take over redistricting.^[5] The League of Women Voters called for the entire process to be reformed, believing it should be more transparent and that the commissioners should be given more time and training.^[6] Washington Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig said his caucus would introduce legislation to require that the final version of the commission's map be released to the public before the final vote to prevent future commissions from missing the deadline.^[7]

Supreme Court

Some speculated that maps drawn by the supreme court may have been more favorable to the Democratic Party compared to those drawn by the bipartisan commission, as five out of the court's nine justices were originally appointed by Democratic governors (three by Jay Inslee and two by Christine Gregoire).^[3][4][5][8] The members of the commission urged the supreme court to adopt the maps that it drew but did not approve in time. However, commissioner Walkinshaw acknowledged that there may be questions about whether the maps' handling of the Yakima River Valley may have violated the Voting Rights Act due to its distribution of Latinos. The UCLA Voting Rights Project claimed that the maps demonstrated "racially polarized voting patterns" in the region and urged the supreme court to address these issues.^[9] The supreme court granted the commission's request and adopted its maps, but it emphasized that its decision to use the commission's maps "does not render any opinion on the plan’s compliance with any statutory and constitutional requirements," meaning that the maps could still be challenged in court.^[10]

New maps

Washington's new congressional map leaves the districts largely the same, though it makes the 1st and 10th districts somewhat more liberal. The most notable change was to the 1st district, which previously reached up to the Canada–United States border. Under the new map, it is more compact, with Medina and Bellevue in the south and Arlington in the north.^[11] Much of the areas cut out from the 1st district were added to the 2nd district. Previously a primarily coastal district, the 2nd now reaches further inland, taking in Skagit and Whatcom counties. The 8th district was also extended. It now reaches into Snohomish County, taking in the city of Sultan, and northern King County, taking in the city of Skykomish. Although both Snohomish and King are liberal counties, giving 58.5% and 75.0% of their vote respectively to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, the portions of these counties that are inside the 8th are still notably more conservative than the counties as a whole. This, in addition to the presence of Trump-supporting Chelan and Kittitas counties and a portion of Pierce County, makes the district highly competitive.^[9]

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