Extra largely Black Va Congressional district lauded as goal, but questionable in practice

From [HERE] RICHMOND, Va. — Almost one in five Virginians is black, yet only one of its 11 congressmen is, and many of the state’s leading African-American policymakers would like to change that ratio.

But creating a second U.S. House district in Virginia that would favor black candidates is easier to advocate than achieve, experts and some black lawmakers say.

According to the 2010 Census, blacks represented 19.4 percent, or 1.55 million, of Virginia’s 8 million residents. So when black members of the Virginia General Assembly called last week for the creation of a second majority minority district, it was a big deal, said Bob Holsworth, chairman of the Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting.

“But the question is how are you going to do it,” said Holsworth, a retired Virginia Commonwealth University political science professor who is now a political blogger and a consultant on public policy issues.

Rep. Bobby Scott, 63, is the first — and only — black Virginia member of Congress in the modern era. His 3rd Congressional District meanders from Richmond’s northern suburbs along the James River 100 miles southeast to Norfolk, cherry-picking mostly black precincts along the way. Its total black voting age population is 53.1 percent.

The 3rd District was first configured into a majority-black district in the 1991 redistricting. Scott, then a state senator who got to vote on the plan, ran for the office and won the next year.

To create a second congressional district optimizing black voting strength, Scott would have to relinquish some of his richest majority-minority constituencies — either in Richmond or Hampton Roads.

“It’s relatively easy to keep one at 53 percent and have a second that’s 30 (percent) to 40 percent, but not very easy to draw two at 50 percent,” Holsworth said.

Creating another minority opportunity district would also endanger some Republican incumbents, making it a hard sell in the GOP-dominated Virginia House of Delegates.

Del. Lionel Spruill was elected to the Virginia House a year after Scott was elected to Congress. He lauds the goal of expanding Virginia’s black representation in Washington.

“But how (are) you going to achieve that without maybe losing what you’ve already got,” said Spruill, D-Chesapeake.

“I’m not worried about Bobby,” said Spruill, 64, a longtime ally of Scott’s. Spruill said Scott could hold his seat with a reduced percentage of black voters, “but what about after Bobby? He ain’t going to be there forever.”

Scott is considering running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Jim Webb next year.

Del. Rosalyn Dance, D-Petersburg and a member of the Privileges and Elections Committee that will vet the reapportionment bills, was also wary of putting Scott at risk.

“It would be a concern from me if you wounded one to get a second one,” Dance said.

In theory, it wouldn’t be difficult to draw two Virginia congressional districts where black voters could elect the candidate of their choice, said Scott.

“In some areas, 51 percent isn’t close to enough,” Scott said, while other districts with a somewhat smaller ratio of minority voters could regularly elect its favored candidate.

Some reapportionment models submitted as part of a moot student redistricting competition propose two districts capable of electing a black representative.

Some legislators have toyed with configurations that might yield two black members of Congress, generally carved out of an area from Richmond and Petersburg southeastward into the Tidewater, encompassing the state’s highest ratios of black population.

But the actual lines the General Assembly will consider next month won’t be made public until this week at the earliest, after legislation that defines the boundaries are introduced.

The General Assembly is under tight time pressure to enact new legislative districts in time for August primaries and November’s elections for all 100 House seats and 40 Senate districts.

There’s not such a rush to finish the Congressional lines because federal elections are more than a year away.

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw of Fairfax County said the Senate’s congressional district plan may include what he called “a second minority opportunity district.”

Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk and head of a joint legislative panel on redistricting, warned that a plan that weakens the black voting age percentages in Scott’s district — or “retrogression” — could invite scrutiny from President Barack Obama’s Justice Department.

Virginia is among nine states whose history subjects it to the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The law requires the states’ redistricting plans to be approved by the Justice Department or a federal court to ensure that minorities’ voting strength is upheld.

That same Justice Department, however, might also welcome an effort create a second congressional district where black voters have a greater voice, Holsworth said.

The Voting Rights Act has been effective in putting blacks in office, said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

“There’s certainly been an increase in African-American candidates elected to Congress, and most of them represent districts that are majority African-American or close to it,” Black said.