Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.The population distribution among Nebraska's three congressional districts is so out of whack that state lawmakers have little choice but to shift some major population centers as they draw new boundaries in the coming weeks and months.
The U.S. Census Bureau released population figures this week showing that the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District has 30,000 too many people to be in proper balance.
In contrast, the outstate 3rd Congressional District, with its shrinking population, needs to gain 47,000 people to keep up with its growing counterparts to the east.
With the numbers in hand, a special legislative redistricting committee can start its work. Its proposal is expected to go before the full Legislature in May.
Which communities will move?
In Sarpy County, which was first split up in 2000, Papillion is positioned as a likely mover out of the 2nd District. Another route might be to move Bellevue — and Offutt Air Force Base — from that district.
Two counties on the 1st District's western edge — Madison and Gage — have major cities in Norfolk and Beatrice that would boost the outstate district's numbers.
But 10 years ago, moving Madison County and its strong Republican base was a no-no for Republicans in the Legislature.
“We're going to have to make the tough decisions,” State Sen. Chris Langemeier of Schuyler, the chairman of the Legislature's redistricting committee, said Wednesday.
Langemeier said the committee hasn't begun work on the congressional districts, although lots of senators have suggested ideas for redrawing state legislative districts.
He said he expects to start working on legislative districts first, then move to the congressional boundaries.
Friday, the committee will meet to discuss a timeline. Langemeier said he plans to hold public hearings on the proposals, perhaps even in different parts of the state.
There also will be a fair amount of behind-the-scenes discussions that will include the state's three incumbent Republican congressmen and the Republican governor.
The redistricting work must be completed by June 8, when the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn.
“We've got some time,” Langemeier said. “But we'll get after it.”
For the 3rd District, the quickest way to increase the population would be to move Madison County and perhaps a couple of other counties, said David Drozd, a census expert in UNO's Center for Public Affairs Research. But that has been contentious in the past, he said.
In the Omaha area, if Douglas County continues to be the 2nd District base, lawmakers must find more than 91,000 people from somewhere else to reach the optimum population of 608,780.
For the past decade, southern and western Sarpy County have been included in the 1st District. The numbers could balance by throwing Papillion and surrounding areas in with Lincoln in that district.
Or all of central and western Sarpy County — from Papillion and La Vista to Gretna and Springfield — could fit with Douglas County and the 2nd District. Then all of Bellevue could move out.
Megan Lucas, president of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, had no strong position on where Bellevue belongs.
Lucas said she would prefer to keep Bellevue in the 2nd District, which is represented by U.S. Rep. Lee Terry. But she said Bellevue also has had a great working relationship with Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Lincoln, who represents the 1st District.
“We'll move forward either way, with whatever decision is made,” Lucas said.
And nothing requires Douglas County to stay intact, said John Hibbing, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Hibbing said politics will come into play as Republicans find a way to move Democratic voters out of a district where Republicans are potentially vulnerable.
Said Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, “That is going to be a very vibrant discussion in the Unicameral.”
Langemeier acknowledged the significance of the Omaha-area discussions.
“We'll get into that,” he said, “and that will get to be a big issue in time.”
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Explore this year's census data with the interactive map below
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