Hillsborough County Democrats are up in arms over the county’s redistricting plans, and much of their ire is directed at one of their own: Democratic County Commissioner Gwen Myers. They say Myers appears to be siding with Republicans in formulating the new maps for district commissioner elections.
Adding to the fracas, Myers this week proposed changes to her own map, changes she had promised would be minor tweaks. However, Democrats say the changes would affect more than 72,000 people.
Changes of that magnitude can’t legally be considered without restarting the public hearing process, say at least two commissioners, Democrats Pat Kemp and Mariella Smith.
Myers’ map, as it was initially proposed, was backed by Republican Commissioner Ken Hagan. And the local Republican Party, in a “call to action” this week, urged its members to support it.
They said it gave Republicans the best chance for Hagan to win re-election in north Hillsborough’s District 2 and for a Republican to flip Democratic Commissioner Harry Cohen’s south Tampa-centered District 1 — both potential swing districts.
Myers’ new revisions, however, make the map less GOP-favorable in District 1.
Under any map, Republicans seem likely to hold their only other seat on the seven-member board, Commissioner Stacy White’s District 4 in southern and eastern Hillsborough.
In response to the GOP, the county Democratic Party on Thursday issued its own call to action, endorsing a map proposed by Kemp, as did the party’s Black caucus. The party asked members to address the board on the issue and offered speakers training sessions.
The League of Women Voters also endorsed the Kemp plan, saying it best meets the criteria of fair districts.
“We didn’t want to have our hands on it at all — we wanted it to remain non-political,” said county Democratic Party Chair Ione Townsend, “but because (Republicans) were advocating a map that was not advantageous to the citizens, we decided we should take a position.”
Legally, the commissioners aren’t supposed to consider the effect on any one candidate or party in drawing new lines for the county’s four districts, but accusations of political gerrymandering have flown from all sides during the process.
Their biggest legitimate concern is maintaining Black voting power in central Tampa District 3, which for years has elected the only Black commissioner — currently Myers.
Nonetheless, her proposed map initially included a slightly smaller Black population in the district than Kemp’s, 38.7 percent to 39 percent. Myers’ new revisions raised it to 39.1.
Democrats say Kemp’s map would better protect District 3 Black voting power long-term. Gentrification has been reducing the Black population percentage, raising the prospect of a board with no Black representation.
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Explore all your optionsMapping expert John Godwin, who’s working with Democrats on the issue, said under current growth trends, Kemp’s map would provide the best prospects for long-term Black population percentage.
But some civil rights activists, including local NAACP President Yvette Lewis, disagree. Lewis said including the university area and Temple Terrace in District 3, as Myers’ map does, would add economic power to the district and clout to its commissioner. And Kemp’s map, Lewis said, wouldn’t prevent gentrification.
However, the Temple Terrace City Council has asked that the city be included in District 2, as it is in Kemp’s map, rather than in District 3, as in Myers’.
The board’s next major question may be whether it can even consider Myers’ revised map, under county charter provisions intended to prohibit last-minute changes in proposed maps without public notice. The commissioners were to vote on the maps this week.
“I don’t see how it doesn’t violate the charter to bring this map forward,” said Smith, who previously lobbied for those charter provisions. “It’s important that we give the citizens a chance to see all these maps and not be pulling out maps at the last minute.”
Kemp, referring to comments in redistricting debates by Myers and Hagan and their mutual support on the issue, said the two “obviously (have) a shared goal,” but couldn’t say what it was.
Myers wasn’t available for an interview by deadline for this column.
Contact William March at wemarch@gmail.com.
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