Senate Reveals Radical New District Maps for 2022 Elections

  Both chambers of the Oklahoma legislature announced their preliminary maps for redistricting, as required by constitutional law.  The maps look less serpentine than the 2012 product we were subjected to.  The Senate made more radical changes than the House, but for some Oklahomans the change will be drastic in both House & Senate.
 We remain a legislative state with 101 House seats and 48 senate seats, but some districts completely disappear from one part of the state and pop up as new entities with very different constituencies. Some of the lawmakers who are not eligible to run for another term in 2022, will see their districts dissolve and be absorbed by abutting districts, so that their seat can be issued to a brand new district somewhere else in the state.

The 2022 proposed state senate district map (click to enlarge)

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OKC Metro Senate Proposed Redistricting

​ Generally, Oklahoma's rural areas are not populating as fast as the metro areas, so in order to assure equal representation, the borders must constitutionally be adjusted every decade when the US Census report becomes public.
  In 1991, Lloyd Noble III led a first-in-the-nation initiative petition to amend the state constitution so that no legislator could run for another term beyond their 12th year of legislative office. Since then our state has extended term limits for statewide offices to just two 4-year terms.

Tulsa Metro Senate Proposed Redistricting

There are 2 areas in OKC & Tulsa metro where you could be within 3 miles of 6 senate districts. For those communities, it could become very confusing for constituents seeking their appropriate legislators.

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  Several incumbent lawmakers will see their own districts look much more cohesive in 2022.

• Paul Rosino's boomerang-shaped district in south OKC metro now looks more like a taco. 
• Dave Rader & Jo Anna Dossett redrew their common vertical district border of 14 miles, to a horizontal 7-mile divider. It restores the historic senate seat which was chopped up 10 years ago so that Broken Arrow could add a senate seat.
• Nathan Dahm's boomerang-shaped district now  resembles a slice of pizza.
• Joe Newhouse will no longer have a district with an 8-mile periscope  to the north of his otherwise cohesive region.
• Blake Stevens' district radically changes from hugging the Arkansas border. It now assumes most of Wagoner County from the terming-out Kim David.
• Casey Murdock will add a 10th county to his massive panhandle-plus region.

  Bethany & Yukon will share a new senate seat.  SD 18, which used to be a Wagoner County designation, has been moved to western OKC metro.  

•   Kim David's old seat will see new filings in just 12 months. there will be no incumbent, but there will likely be some notable political leaders looking at the new opportunity to serve.  Prominent Republicans, Libertarians, and Democrats are associated with that region.
• Jessica Garvin's butterfly-shaped district is still just as odd-looking as it was 10 years ago.
• Greg Treat's district no longer looks like the B1B stealth bomber.
• Darcy Jech's H-shaped ridiculous district shape is now closer to a T-shape, and moves into most of Kingfisher County.
• Adam Pugh's district shrinks to about 25% of it's previous size, because east Edmond has massively increased population.

In our next article, we will study some of the features of the House of Representatives' newly proposed maps.