Reynolds signs redistricting maps

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Iowa’s new congressional districts into law Thursday evening.

Iowas+new+congressional+districts+were+signed+into+law+by+Gov.+Kim+Reynolds+Thursday%2C+Nov.+4.+%28Legislative+Services+Agency%29

Iowa’s new congressional districts were signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds Thursday, Nov. 4. (Legislative Services Agency)

Rylee Wilson, Managing Editor


Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Iowa’s new redistricting maps into law Thursday evening. 

The maps were approved by the Iowa house and senate on a bipartisan basis last week. 

“Today I signed the bipartisan redistricting maps into law,” Reynolds said in a press release. “I am confident in how the process played out—just as the law intended, and I believe these new districts will fairly and accurately represent the citizens of Iowa for the next decade.” 

The maps were the second version the Legislative Services Agency created. House Republicans voted down the first set over concerns that some districts were not compact enough. 

Iowa is the 11th state to complete the redistricting process according to FiveThirtyEight. The redistricting process is mandated to take place each 10 years after the census is completed. 

The maps put Johnson County into the newly-drawn 1st Congressional District. The district covers much of what is now the 2nd District. Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who represents the 2nd District, would be drawn into the new 3rd District, putting her in the same district as Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne. 

“The new congressional boundaries have placed Congresswoman Axne and me in the same district,” Miller-Meeks wrote in a prepared statement in October. “I have indicated that I will be a candidate for re-election. I will be evaluating the new districts to determine my next step, which I will be announcing shortly.”

Miller-Meeks hasn’t announced which district she plans to run in.

Democrat Christina Bohannan, from Johnson County, will be seeking election to the 1st District, and she currently faces no Republican Senator.

“Thrilled that we had a fair, nonpartisan redistricting process!” She wrote in a tweet on Oct. 28. “Welcome to IA-01, Southeastern Iowa.  Now let’s turn it blue.”