A Massachusetts congressional redistricting plan proposed by a Beacon Hill committee was the subject of a virtual public hearing Tuesday.
The hearing was dominated by debate over the plan by the legislature’s Joint Committee on Redistricting to put the city of Fall River into a single congressional district, but not the same one as New Bedford – a plan that has divided politicians on the South Coast.
One of the Democratic congressmen who currently represents the region praised the plan, the other panned it. The mayors of Fall River and New Bedford are on opposite sides of the debate. The state legislative delegation is split.
Currently, the southern part of Fall River is in the Ninth District along with New Bedford while the northern half is in the Fourth District. The two cities are in the top 10 in population in Massachusetts, but neither have been the home to a member of Congress since the 1920s.
Uniting all of Fall River in the Fourth District will make it the largest city in the district and give it more political gravity, said State Rep. Michael Moran, the House chairman of the redistricting committee.
“This region over a ten-year period of re-configuring these districts will have two congressmen –or women – who call this home and that put their head on a pillow down there. That is the only reason we did what we did,” Moran said.
U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, the Democratic incumbent in the Ninth District whose home is on Cape Cod, said there is “no rational argument” for putting Fall River and New Bedford entirely in separate districts.
“Coordination between the cities of New Bedford and Fall River and the entire South Coast has broadened the horizon beyond any that either could have accomplished individually,” Keating said.
But encouraging the committee to keep the redistricting plan was the current congressman from the Fourth District, Democrat Jake Auchincloss of Newton.
“It will ensure that Fall River is the biggest city in the Massachusetts Fourth. It’s needs are going to be front and center for any member of congress representing this district,” Auchincloss said.
Combined Fall River and New Bedford have the country’s largest population of Portuguese-Americans and it would be a mistake to split the two communities and dilute their influence, argued State Senator Michael Rodriques, who represents Fall River.
“I would ask, and hope, that the committee reconsider their proposal,” Rodriques said.
State Rep. Carole Fiola of Fall River said her city and New Bedford are very different economically and should have separate representation in Washington.
“We are best served to work with our neighboring South Coast communities with the strength of two congressional voices,” Fiola said.
There was some comment at Tuesday’s hearing about other parts of the Congressional redistricting plan. State Rep Paul Frost, a Republican from Auburn, urged the committee to reconsider shifting the First District, currently represented by Democrat Richard Neal of Springfield, deep into Worcester County.
“There is lot more economic, social, and a whole bunch of other things that are far more relevant for those communities to be in a Worcester-based district than a western Mass specifically Springfield-based district,” Frost said.
Under the committee’s proposed redistricting plan, the Second District, where the Democratic incumbent is Jim McGovern of Worcester, would add about a dozen towns in Hampshire and Franklin counties.
