New district maps released

As state lawmakers prepare to start committee debate on their redistricting maps today, the map-makers released updated versions of all three proposals late last night and early this morning. 

House

The new House map would reconfigure New Hanover and Brunswick districts 17, 18, 19, and 20, which were the topics of many complaints at public hearings, most notably from Rep. Frank Iler, R-Brunswick, the current incumbent in the 17th. 

It also makes some small changes in Buncombe County (116) and Lee County (54). 

There may be a few other tweaks as well - at the time I'm writing this, finely detailed maps aren't yet available, so it's hard to get a good look at the small metro districts in Wake, Mecklenburg, Guilford, and Forsyth. 

Senate 

The new Senate map makes a pretty major change to Senate districts covering Johnston and Sampson counties.  

The new Senate 10 would double-bunk Senators Brent Jackson and David Rouzer, both Republicans. Rouzer has already said he's running for Congress in 2012.  

The change creates a new open seat in Senate 12, covering Lee, Harnett, and a piece of Johnston counties.  Rumor has it Senate leaders are recruiting House Redistricting chair David Lewis to move over to the Senate. If so, this district might have his name on it. 

Other changes in the new Senate map include expanding Senate 24 in Randolph County, and some precinct-level tweaking of Senate 21 (Mansfield seat), the jellyfish-like Democratic district that threads through Fayetteville. 

Congressional

The latest version of the congressional map, Draft 2A, puts Polk County back into the 10th district. 

It also lessens the area of Buncombe County drawn into the 10th from 63% of the population to 54.4%. This was also a topic of major debate at the public hearings. 

As I get more details on other changes in the latest versions, I'll update here.