Gerrymandering in Washington State

Ruling party power grab.

By Krist Novoselić (May 4, 2026)

• The federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) is in the news regarding a Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruling. Louisiana v. Callais establishes that VRA actions must demonstrate a state intentionally diminished the opportunity for minority voters within a redistricting plan.

• The ruling uses the term “racial gerrymander” a lot, pointing at Democrats, “if race and politics are not disentangled and a [VRA] claim is cynically used as a tool for advancing a partisan end, the VRA’s noble goal will be perverted.” (p. 36)

Commission System in Trouble

In the 1980s, Washington state voters passed a constitutional amendment creating a fair process for legislative reapportionment. This change originated in Olympia by legislators weary after decades of controversy over district boundaries. Washington has benefitted from a bi-partisan redistricting commission since 1991’s reapportionment.

The magic of the commission is how it gives the minority party leverage in reapportionment. Negotiations between the two sides produced maps avoiding the partisan gerrymandering that occurs in states lacking such a process.

And let’s face it, sitting legislators were happy to have both parties on the commission collude to protect incumbents.

Washington was a model for the nation, but this is changing due to hyper-partisanship.

Voters in California recently approved a ballot measure suspending their state redistricting commission for new maps benefitting Democrats in the US House. Prop. 50 was a response to efforts, backed by President Donald Trump, to gerrymander more Republican districts in Texas and other GOP led states.

Weaponizing the Voting Rights Act

The Washington Commission’s proceedings for the 2021 round of redistricting were chaotic and controversial . The independent Chair eventually resigned in protest .

Much of the drama around the production of the new state legislative map came through Democrats leveraging the threat of VRA litigation.

On Jan. 19, 2022, mere days after the official state legislative map was produced, Democratic Party aligned groups filed a federal VRA action against the Commission (Soto Palmer v. Hobbs), alleging the new maps disenfranchised Central Washington Latinos.

Ultimately, a federal judge in Seattle ruled in favor of plaintiffs. The legal opinion stated how the economic and social preferences of Latinos in the Tri-Cities area were better aligned with the Democratic Party platform, than the GOP’s.

This ruling basically blew up our state's longstanding commission process. The federal court allowed plaintiffs in the case to redraw 13 state legislative districts in Central Washington.

Our state ruling party cloaks itself in identity politics, yet has no problem trying to kick a sitting Latina legislator out of Olympia.

Before being elected to the legislature, GOP State Senator Nikki Torres served on the Pasco City Council and was president of the Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Instead of respecting the noble aims and accomplishments of the VRA, cynical Washington State Democrats used this milestone legislation as a tool to benefit their ruling party.

Intentions

SCOTUS has been aware of how our state’s Democrats have weaponized the VRA. In a 2023 concurring opinion regarding redistricting in South Carolina, Justice Clarence Thomas was keen on the situation here in Washington:

In short, the [Soto Palmer] court concluded that securing the rights of Hispanic voters required replacing some of those voters with non-Hispanic Democrats. That dismissive attitude toward non-Democratic members of minority groups exemplifies the tendency of the Court’s race-obsessed jurisprudence to balkanize us into competing racial factions. (p.23)

The whole basis of the VRA —a landmark statute, based in the equal protection provided in the 15th Amendment— is to remedy the racial discrimination insiders set into electoral systems. The Louisiana decision now requires plaintiffs in VRA redistricting cases to prove intended racial discrimination by the state.

The Louisiana case could lead to preserving our state’s redistricting commission — Democrats can’t as easily abuse the venerable VRA by leveraging the threat of litigation.

There is Hope

The national gerrymandering race-to-the-bottom is set to start as one-party rule states set to destroy the other side through skewed reapportionment.

We don’t have to helplessly watch the horror of the major party gerrymandering wars unfold.

Let’s advocate the repeal of a 1967 federal statute mandating single-member US House districts. This way, states can elect their US House delegations with proportional representation (PR) through multi-member districts.

In fact, PR is constitutionally protected through the decades of jurisprudence supporting the VRA.

Top 2 Pro is the Washington State plan to elect our state house with PR. This is a simple statutory change which will create multi-party state house delegations in Olympia from all over the state. This plan does not change existing maps.

Cascade Party is offering good governance by way of voters sharing representation. Let’s solve the gerrymandering by political insiders once and for all. This way, it’s We The People who have power.