The following is a list of the ten congressional

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

This article partially describes districts prior to the 2012 redistricting.

At large

From the time that

Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

was formed in 1853, through statehood in 1889,

elected an

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

non-voting Delegate to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. At different times in its history, the state of Washington has also elected one or more representatives At-large statewide. * *

Current districts and representatives

List of members of the Washington United States House delegation, their terms, their district boundaries, and the districts' political ratings according to the CPVI. The delegation has a total of 10 members, including 8 Democrats and 2 Republicans.

Historical and present district boundaries

Table of United States congressional district boundary maps in the State of Washington, presented chronologically. All redistricting events that took place in Washington between 1973 and 2013 are shown.

State redistricting procedures

Washington is one of 22 states that do not give direct control of

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral distri ...

to the state's legislature. The state's congressional districts are determined by a four-member Washington State Redistricting Commission that is appointed every ten years. Two members are appointed by both of the state's legislative branches, with the majority leader and minority leader from each selecting one person. The four appointed members then vote to appoint a fifth, non-partisan chairperson that cannot vote. The commission is disbanded once they have approved a redistricting plan. In 1981 Republicans attempted to gerrymander Tom Foley's fifth district by splitting

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

(the district's main population center) into two districts, but this was vetoed by Governor John Spellman. After they redrew districts in 1982, a federal court threw out the map for excessive population variation. New maps were drawn in 1983 by a five-member commission appointed by the legislature to avoid continued deadlock under a court-imposed deadline; the legislature had historically often failed to redistrict. In 1983, the voters approved a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to permanently establish a redistricting commission. The first commission created under the changes completed their work as part of the 1991 redistricting.

References

External links

Washington State Redistricting Commission
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Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...