New Congressional Map: Boone County & Others Likely Removed from Womack’s District

New Congressional Map of AR moves several Northern Arkansas Counties to new districts.

 On Thursday the Arkansas Legislature submitted Senate Bill 743, which draws a new congressional map for Arkansas, to the Governor for his signature.

Redistricting was the primary purpose for the legislative session that is ongoing

The new congressional map moves several northern Arkansas counties into new congressional districts. These moves are a result of the 2020 census which saw major growth in Northwest Arkansas.

Congressman Steve Womack had warned the residents of Boone County about this weeks earlier saying that felt his district was “overweight” by about 100,000 people.

As a result of that imbalance Boone, Marion, and Searcy counties will be moved out of the third district, represented by Womack, to the 1^st congressional district represented by Rick Crawford. Searcy county is currently split between the third and first district. The new map will place it entirely in the first district.

Newton county is also split between third and fourth districts represented by Womack and Bruce Westerman respectively. Under the new map Newton county will move entirely into Westerman’s fourth district.

 The new map also breaks up Pulaski County, Arkansas’s most populous county which includes the Little Rock area, into the first, second, and fourth districts drawing criticism from Arkansas Democrats who call it an attempt to weaken minority voting populations in Arkansas.

The Arkansas House of Representatives approved the bill 53-36 while the Senate voted 23-10, with two members not voting, on its third reading to send it the desk of Governor Asa Hutchinson.

The bill currently awaits approval from the Governor.

Here’s a link to the the full text of SB743:

https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FSB743.pdf