Proposal to gerrymander Washington congressional maps has little chance in upcoming legislative session

Amid a nationwide battle to redraw congressional districts to make them more politically beneficial, a top Democrat in the state Legislature has proposed an amendment to the state constitution that could allow Washington to join the fight.

While the proposal has a slim chance in the upcoming legislative session, the idea brings the conversation of gerrymandered congressional districts to Washington.

This week, House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle, introduced the constitutional amendment that would allow the state to redistrict Congressional seats midcycle if another state does it first. The amendment would modify the current process used to redraw congressional districts in the state, which is typically done every 10 years following the completion of the census.

In 1983, voters passed a constitutional amendment to establish the five-member state redistricting commission, which meets every 10 years. The commission is composed of members nominated by the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate, who appoint a fifth member to serve as a nonvoting chairperson.

“Washington state is not going to just sit by while Donald Trump and his allies in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio seek to rig the US House to lock in a Republican majority,” Fitzgibbon said in a statement. “Democracy is on the line, and Washingtonians deserve a voice in whether or not Trump gets a hand-picked Congress.”

To pass, the amendment would need approval by two-thirds of legislators in each chamber, and would then go to the general election ballot for voters to weigh in.

With Democrats short of the two-thirds majority in either chamber, the amendment stands little chance of success. Should Democrats gain three additional seats in the state Senate and six additional seats in the House, the amendment could be discussed in future sessions.

“I didn’t propose anything on that because it just doesn’t seem like it’s going to pass. You need a constitutional amendment, that takes two thirds, there’s not two thirds vote,” Gov. Bob Ferguson said during a news conference Friday.

Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, said Friday the idea has “helped to educate the public about the challenges of doing any changes to our redistricting plan in Washington state.”

“I would have never wanted to do this, no, historically,” Jinkins said. “But when you have a president who has pushed midcycle redistricting in like a dozen states across the country to try and gain an advantage this cycle, there are very few tools that are left to move forward. So I think it will be a good discussion to help voters understand that in Washington, you can’t just do what California did or what some other states have done.”

Senate Majority Leader Jaimie Pederson, D-Seattle, said during a legislative preview session that he does not support the proposal.

The bill will not impact the 2026 midterm elections, and any new maps could not be used until 2028 at the earliest.

Washington’s 10 Congressional seats are held by eight Democrats and two Republicans.

The proposal follows a nationwide effort to gerrymander Congressional seats. Last year, the Texas Legislature adopted a new Congressional map that includes five new Republican-leaning districts. In November, voters in California approved a statewide referendum that allows the state to redraw Congressional seats to be more favorable to Democrats.

Legislatures in several other states, including Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Utah, have also begun the process of redesigning Congressional seats in their respective states.