Deadline Looms for Redistricting Panel

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. – Bridgeport could be sent packing by noon Wednesday – right out of the 4th Congressional District, where it has been linked with most of southern Fairfield County for 125 years.

That could jeopardize U.S. Rep Jim Himes' chances of winning re-election to a third term next November.

Himes, a Democrat from Greenwich, won election in 2008 and 2010 with overwhelming voter support in heavily Democratic Bridgeport, the state's largest city, and in Stamford, another Democratic stronghold.

With Wednesday’s noon deadline looming, the bipartisan legislative Redistricting Commission was still meeting late Tuesday in an effort to reach a last-minute deal that would avoid placing the mapping decision in the hands of the state Supreme Court.

The court granted the commission a 21-day extension when it could not reach its original Dec. 1 deadline to complete a once-a-decade update of voting districts.

“The commission is still meeting and hoping to make a decision before the deadline,” said Pat O’Neil, communications director for the House Republicans.

State Senate Pro Temp Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, co-chairman of the Redistricting Commission, said he’s hoping an agreement will be reached by the deadline.

“Both sides have agreed not to say anything publicly until there either is or isn’t an agreement,” Williams said Tuesday. “Whether we will keep meeting right to the last hour will depend on what happens during our talks the rest of [Tuesday]."

Republicans, led by House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, co-chairman of the redistricting panel along with Williams, and Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfied, a redistricting panel member, have proposed moving Bridgeport out of the 4th Congressional District and into the 3rd District with New Haven.

Democrats are vehemently opposed, saying the “purely political” plan being advanced by the GOP would greatly reduce minority representation in Bridgeport, the state’s largest city.

"If the goal were to help create Republican congressional districts, then that [the GOP] plan would make sense," Williams said.

However, Cafero said two weeks ago: "Nobody ever seems to complain that Democrats currently hold all five of the congressional seats, so why should we hesitate to recommend changes that would make the map more equitable by boosting minority representation to over 40 percent in two [of the five] congressional districts?”

Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.