Proposed Redistricting Would Change Congressional Representation for Birmingham

Michigan Republicans laid out their reapportionment plans and if they are approved by lawmakers, the Congressional districts in Birmingham would see some changes.

Under the proposed plans, Congressman Gary Peters (D-9th District) would no longer serve Birmingham. Instead, the 11th Congressional District represented by Republican Thad McCotter, would take over Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham.

Reapportionment occurs every 10 years following the release of U.S. Census data. It is a mandate to keep districts equal in population. The state has until Nov. 1 to finalize the district maps.

In the state House

Now: Birmingham is part of the 40th District, represented by third-term Representative Chuck Moss (R-Birmingham). Moss's district includes Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Keego Harbor, Sylvan Lake and Orchard Lake Village.

Proposed: Birmingham would remain in the 40th District, though the district would expand westward to include parts of West Bloomfield.

In the state Senate

Now: Birmingham is part of the 13th Senate District, represented by John Pappageorge (R-Troy).

Proposed: Under the plan, Birmingham would stay in the 13th District.

Congress

Now: Birmingham is part of the 9th District, led by Peters, a Democrat from Bloomfield Hills.

Proposed: Oakland County would be broken into four congressional districts (8, 9, 11 and 14).

• District 14 would include Farmington Hills (but not Farmington which  would be in District 11) as well as West Bloomfield, Pontiac, Southfield and parts of Wayne County.
• District 8 would include Rochester and Rochester Hills and the rest of the northern half of the county from Oakland and Addison townships west to Holly and Rome townships. District 8 is currently led by Congressman Mike Rogers, a Republican.
• District 11 would almost encircle the southern half of the county and include everything from Clawson and Troy to Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham west to Milford and south to Canton.
• District 9 would include Royal Oak, Ferndale, Berkley, Huntington Woods, and Bloomfield Township.

The Democrats' response

The districts of U.S. Reps. Peters and Sander Levin (D-12th District), the Democrat who leads the southern part of Oakland County, would overlap.

They issued a joint statement Friday blasting the Republicans who drafted the maps.

“Voters in Michigan have never before faced such a shamelessly partisan redrawing of congressional boundaries," the statement said. "Instead of drawing fair lines that follow community and county borders in a logical way, the Republican legislature has drafted a map so skewed that it exploits every trick in the book to gerrymander districts in ways that benefit Republican incumbents."

Frank Houston, chairman of the Oakland County Democratic Party, agreed.

“The redistricting proposal put forward by Republican leaders today probably represents the most overt attempt to gerrymander for partisan advantage our state has ever seen,” he said in a statement.

Houston also alluded to the possibility that, with the breakup of Oakland County into several Congressional districts, there may not be a Congress member elected from Oakland County.

For more on the reapportionment proposals, see House Bill 4780, which involves the congressional redistricting and House Bill 4779, which involves the state House and Senate redistricting.