The Kentucky House of Representatives GOP revealed their proposed legislative redistricting maps, and it could spell changes for some local districts.
As part of the proposal, Hopkins County would become its own district as whole—it is currently partially represented by Representative Myron Dossett of Pembroke and two other legislators, but Dossett’s district would become wholly in Christian County. Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne says they tried to find ways to make districts more compact while matching the changes in population in the counties.
Speaker Osborne says they spoke with the Kentucky League of Women Voters and the Kentucky NAACP when creating the maps, and says they were focused on keeping communities and neighborhoods together.
District 8, which includes portions of Christian and Trigg County and is currently represented by Walker Thomas, would expand to include all of Caldwell County.
In District 16, the district of Representative Jason Petrie, would lose Warren County but keeps Todd and Logan counties while moving into a portion of Christian County.
Representative Lynn Bechler, who currently represents District 4, would instead represent District 12, which would include Crittenden, Webster, Union and McLean counties.
Speaker Osborne says while the proposed legislation is subject to change during session, he doesn’t expect it will see any drastic changes.
Legislative redistricting is at the top of the list when the legislature gavels in Tuesday morning, with House Speaker Osborne saying they intend to get that done as quickly as possible, likely even staying in session on Saturday to do so.
