Draft Map Keeps Waltham In 5th Congressional District

Waltham MA

02 November, 2021

6:30 PM

Description

WALTHAM, MA — Waltham would remain a part of the Fifth District, currently represented by Katherine Clark, under the proposed redistricting introduced Monday by Massachusetts lawmakers. The draft redistricting, conducted in the wake of the 2020 census, mostly alters the margins of the state's nine House districts, protecting the nine Democratic incumbents. But Waltham is not one of those communities that the proposed map would affect, even though it sits on the boundary of the Fourth District. The Fifth District would mostly change at its western edge, where it would lose Southborough, Ashland, Holliston and Sherborn. The district would also gain Maynard. Beyond the marginal changes to all districts, the most notable change in the new map is the First District, the western-most one, stretching further east to keep its population share up. This year's proposed redistricting is in stark contrast to the redistricting following the 2010 census, when the state lost one congressional seat and lawmakers radically changed the map, putting two incumbents into the same district. The new map was introduced by the state legislature's Special Joint Committee on Redistricting, which will hold a public hearing Nov. 9. The complete proposed map, maps of individual districts and the current map are all available from the redistricting committee. Patch editor Christopher Huffaker contributed to this article.