Redistricting Plan

Both the 2010 and recently-approved 2020 Iowa congressional districts split the state into 4 quadrants, slicing the center of the state – where Des Moines and central communities like Ames are located – into separate districts. This map attempts to draw a central Iowa district while still complying with federal and Iowa state law. The most significant constraint and challenge to achieving this goal is Iowa’s strict requirement that “no county shall be divided” in congressional district plans. See Iowa Constitution Article III, Section 37. Paired with the state requirement constraining population variation to within one percent of the ideal (Iowa Code section 42.4(1)) and the federal “one person, one vote” requirement, this significantly limits the options for coherent congressional districts with a central Iowa district. The districts in this plan achieve less than .1% population deviation, which could potentially withstand a federal court challenge under Tennant v. Jefferson County Commission (2012 Supreme Court case holding congressional districts can deviate from exact population for the purpose of respecting political subdivisions). Still, the recently-enacted congressional map using 2020 census data achieves closer population deviation than this one, and thus could be grounds for a successful challenge.