West Virginia redistricting plan easy on GOP

[The Northerner]

West Virginia’s Democratic-controlled legislature has passed a redistricting bill that makes only marginal changes to the state’s congressional map, bypassing an opportunity to imperil two Republican incumbents.

Democrats in the state House and Senate decided against drawing up a blueprint that could have endangered GOP Rep. David McKinley, a freshman who occupies a district that expands across the state’s northernmost portion, and Shelley Moore Capito, a six-term congresswoman from central West Virginia.

Under the bill that was passed by the state House and the state Senate over the weekend, the seats of the state’s three members will remain virtually unchanged. In the only shift, Mason County will transfer from Capito’s district to that of Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall.

Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin still must sign the plan into law.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60880.html