Elephant Ears

This blog is dedicated to the political happenings in the Valley and Southwest Virginia. As the the name implies, this blog will have posts based on what is heard by this elephant's (GOPer's) ears. It is also a great treat to get while at the county fair or a carnival.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Redistricting the 4th

The 4th congressional district was one that was changed in 2000 to give the GOP an advantage. The city of Portsmouth was draw into the 3rd and was replaced by part of Chesterfield County. This resulted in delivering the district to the GOP in 2002.

The district is anchored by part of Chesterfield County in Richmond Metro and Chesapeake City in Tidewater. The rest of the district is GOP leaning, but these 2 localities ensure GOP victory here. Even so, the 4th is faced with the same dilemma as the 2nd in that Kilgore lost Chesapeake. If that is a trend and not an anomoly, this may become another competitive seat.

Because of the growth of Chesapeake, Suffolk and Chesterfield; the 4th district lines will likely stay close to the same unless the dems control the process. Under that scenario, they would likely draw the district the old way with Portsmouth in the 4th and put more of Chesterfield in the 7th. Otherwise, the district should stay relatively the same.

1 Comments:

  • At 4/18/2006 4:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I think Forbes is pretty formidable in the 4th. If he abandons and runs for the Senate, it could be a swing seat.

    Middle class blacks are starting to move into Chesapeake, making the area more moderate. Byrne and Deeds averaged around 47-48% in Chesapeake.

     

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