The Legislature in a special session last week passed congressional redistricting as required by the Oklahoma Constitution.
A major change was taking Washington County (Bartlesville) out of the First Congressional District (Tulsa’s district) and adding parts of Creek County (Sapulpa).
By law, the Legislature must redraw legislative district boundaries to reflect changes in population every 10 years following the decennial Census.
The lawmakers in a bipartisan way redrew district lines for the Oklahoma Senate and Oklahoma House. The Senate vote was 46-1 for congressional districts and the House vote was 75-19.
“Our open and transparent process, coupled with public input, yielded good maps that passed out of the Senate with overwhelming, bipartisan support. I appreciate Senator Lonnie Paxton, the members of the Senate redistricting committee, and the redistricting staff for their diligent work. Equally as important was the unprecedented level of engagement from Oklahomans, which lead to better maps,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City.
Paxton, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting, said the Senate and House redistricting committees held 30 public meetings, both in-person and virtual, and solicited public comment for more than a year.
“Over a year ago, the Senate promised to have an open and transparent redistricting process, and we kept that promise. I am proud that Oklahomans answered our call for input into what was important to them in redrawing the Senate district boundaries,” said Paxxon.
“The process and public input yielded good Senate district maps that are more compact than the current maps. I am proud of our process and proud of the maps it produced,” said Paxton, R-Tuttle.
Oklahoma would continue to have two majority urban congressional districts and three majority rural congressional districts. New state legislative district maps initially passed in May changed just slightly in the final votes.
Highlights of the proposals include:
- More compact legislative and congressional districts
- 87% of Oklahomans remain in the same congressional district
- Major military bases and related military communities remain in the same congressional districts