Redistricting efforts impact Birmingham metro area

Although they face legal challenges, the state of Alabama has new congressional, legislative and school board maps following the redistricting process that took place in late 2021.

The maps significantly altered representation in parts of Homewood and Hoover, but did not have a major impact in Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook.

The redistricting process takes place every 10 years following the release of the U.S. Census Bureau data. Governor Kay Ivey signed the maps in November, but two lawsuits have been filed challenging the legality of the maps, arguing they weaken the state’s African-American vote, and Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, the longest-serving legislator in state history, said the lawsuits will be ongoing “for a while.”

Other than a few minor changes, state legislative districts remained largely the same in the over-the-mountain area. State Sen. Dan Roberts, representing District 15, represents a large portion of Vestavia and Mountain Brook and portions of Homewood and Shelby County, but did lose his boxes in Talladega County, where he was one of three senators. The committee chose to try and keep multiple representatives or senators from serving one county, he said.

State senators’ districts now represent about 146,000 people on average, with representatives representing about 43,000 people, Waggoner said.

State Rep. David Wheeler said that in an effort to eliminate split precincts, he was given all of the Vestavia Hills United Methodist precinct, while state Rep. Jim Carns was given all of the Town Village precinct, which will soon move to the Vestavia Hills Civic Center.

In Homewood, voters zoned for two voting precincts, one in Edgewood and the other at the Homewood Library, were moved from the 6th Congressional District, which is currently held by Republican Gary Palmer, into the 7th Congressional District, which is currently held by Democrat Terri Sewell.

While areas north of Oxmoor Road in the city were previously a part of the 7th District, which has historically been held by a Democrat, areas south of Oxmoor had been included in the 6th District, which has historically been held by a Republican, said state Rep. David Faulkner, who represents District 46.

Faulkner estimated he heard from 100 residents who were upset about the changes. Ethan Vice with Palmer’s office said the changes came as a result of the growth in Palmer’s portion of Shelby County. The growth meant he had to lose some areas in order to maintain balance among the state’s congressional delegation. Palmer also lost some parts of Hoover between McCalla and Helena, as well as a good bit of western Jefferson County, though he did pick up some precincts in the Roebuck and Center Point area.

Faulkner and Waggoner attempted to keep those parts of Homewood in Palmer’s district, but the measures were defeated on the floor of both the state House and state Senate. Faulkner said he was “taken back” by how little legislators not on the redistricting committee were involved in the creation of new maps.

The only role they were allowed to play before the maps were put on the floor for debate was in examining their own district, Faulkner said, meaning he did not get to see how some of his constituents would be affected by changes to congressional maps, or changes to state Senate and school board maps.

The process was complicated due to the delay in census numbers coming in, Waggoner said. Normally, legislators would have several months to complete redistricting, but the numbers did not come in until August this year, Carns said.

Over-the-mountain legislators including Waggoner, Carns, Roberts, Faulkner and Wheeler all said they plan on running for re-election, and while qualifying for the 2022 primaries and general election won’t end until the end of January, two had known opponents as of press time: Wheeler and Carns. Wheeler will face Chris Coleman, a DJ, in the general election after Coleman, a Democrat, filed papers to run against him, Wheeler said. Carns will face William Wentowski in the Republican primary after defeating Wentowski in the 2018 primary.