Arizona Republican Party Forms Redistricting Committee

August 14, 2013

From statehood in 1912 until 2000, Arizona’s Legislature was in charge of drawing legislative and congressional districts, but in the 2000 election, apparently in a bid to lessen the influence of politics on the process, voters passed Proposition 106, which created the five-member Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The commission has two Republicans, two Democrats and an Independent chairperson. Listen to the true believers in the Democratic and Republican Parties, and you will understand that politics are still dominant. When the new congressional districts were unveiled and Democrats seemed to be competitive in more than they had in the past, that led to allegations of misconduct.

Gov.Jan Brewer even removed commission Chair Colleen Mathis. That was later overturned by the state Supreme Court.

Now in the attempt to get the jump on the 2020 district-drawing, the Arizona GOP has formed a redistricting committee to monitor the IRC’s process. With more details is Tim Sifert, communications-director for the state Republican Party, and with a perspective from the Democratic side of the aisle, we turn to Barry Dill, partner at the Phoenix-based FirstStrategic.