New voting map could mean new lawmakers in the Lower Yakima Valley

Mar 23, 2024

An entirely new slate of state lawmakers could represent the Lower Yakima Valley under new state voting maps.

A federal judge ordered new boundaries for state legislative districts in Central Washington on March 15, shaking up the seats of the senators and representatives the region sends to Olympia.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik ruled that the old boundaries violated the federal Voting Rights Act and stepped in to draw new legislative district boundaries after the state government declined to do so in 2023.

The dust is still settling. Defendants in the case have appealed the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and have asked that the new maps be suspended until after the 2024 election.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said the new legislative maps are in place, but his office is prepared to revert to the old maps if told to do so by the Ninth Circuit.

He said his office would ideally have a decision from the Ninth Circuit by Monday, March 25, to have time to work with counties across the state and get the right maps ready before the election.

"We don't want to mess around with elections, especially in a presidential year," he said. "We just want certainty."

Candidate filing takes place from May 6-10. Candidates could move, as state Sen. Brad Hawkins plans to do in Wenatchee.

Reporters from the Yakima Herald-Republic and the Walla Walla Union Bulletin spoke with lawmakers from the three legislative districts that encompass Yakima and Walla Walla counties to learn more about how the changes might affect them and the 2024 election.

District 14

Representatives: Gina Mosbrucker, R-Goldendale, and Chris Corry, R-Yakima

Senator: Curtis King, R-Yakima

Districts 14 and 15 are at the center of Lasnik’s ruling.

District 14 is the new district that is meant to give Yakima Valley Latinos a better chance at electing their preferred candidates. It includes the Yakama Reservation, East Yakima, and Lower Valley communities like Wapato, Toppenish, Sunnyside, Grandview and Mabton.

It includes parts of Klickitat and Benton counties, following the Columbia River and skirting the Tri-Cities, but includes East Pasco.

The new boundaries displace incumbent lawmakers in the 14th District, creating three openings in the state Legislature to represent parts of Yakima County. Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, would be in the new 15th District and Gina Mosbrucker, R-Goldendale, would be in the new 17th District.

Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, will be moved from the 14th to the 15th District.

On Thursday, he said he was still figuring out his next move. He said he is waiting on the Ninth Circuit’s decision and hopes the court suspends the implementation.

“People should just look at what has been done and analyze. Has this really been fair?” he said.

Mosbrucker and Corry both criticized the decision, calling it frustrating and partisan.

Corry said he will run for office again, no matter what, and that many voters in the new 15th District were in his district during the last two rounds of redistricting. He is still hoping for intervention from the Ninth Circuit, though.

“I’m running in either district, whatever happens, but I’d like to see more fair maps,” he said.

Last week, Mosbrucker said she was considering running for office in a new district, but, this week, said she was waiting for the appeal and the Ninth Circuit’s decision before a firm decision. She said she would decide based on what’s best for her family and the Republican Party.

Challengers for the 14th District seats have been more optimistic about the changes. Yakima resident Raúl Martínez plans to run for state representative in the 14th District as a Democrat and his plans have been affirmed by the new maps.

He likes the new maps and said his campaign will focus on telling voters about the changes.

“That’s the approach my campaign is taking, education, education,” he said. “We have to educate voters on what the changes are and what these offices are.”

Maria Beltran earlier announced plans to run for state Senate as a Democrat in the 14th District and said she is still within its boundaries. She praised the voting rights advocates who advocated for the changes.

"The new district is good and more inclusive," she said. "My plans have not been altered, I'm still running in the 14th District."

Beltran said her campaign is still focused on meeting voters and listening to their concerns and issues across Central Washington.

Chelsea Dimas said she would run in the old 15th District, but now plans to campaign for a seat in the new 14th District as a Democrat. She said the new boundaries gave clarity on where she should campaign.

Dimas added that people in the region share other similarities – many are working class and have jobs in agriculture or warehouse industries.

“It brings together a lot of the working class, folks who work tough jobs which are, to be honest, kind of thankless,” she said.

District 15

Representatives: Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, and Bryan Sandlin, R-Zillah

Senator: Nikki Torres, R-Pasco

There’s plenty up in the air in the 15th District. Nikki Torres, the first Latina state senator from Central Washington, has been moved into the new 16th District.

The 15th District now includes northern Yakima County, including Yakima's West Valley, Moxee and Upper Yakima Valley communities. It then stretches southeast to include Prosser and a piece of Benton County.

Rep. Bryan Sandlin, R-Zillah, said the new boundaries keep him in the 15th District and he plans to run again. He was still concerned about the changes and how they affect other incumbent candidates in his district. Sandlin said the state redistricting commission should have been tasked with drawing new boundaries.

Torres is one of those incumbents that would be affected by the new boundaries. She said she is waiting to see more of the appeals process before she makes any decisions.

“I’m still waiting to hear on the appeal,” she said. “I’m hoping this (motion) gets accepted.”

Torres said she would be able to finish her term in the 15th District over the next two years and said she enjoys representing people in the Lower Yakima Valley.

The new 16th District, where Torres now finds herself, would include Walla Walla and Franklin counties and is represented in the state Senate by Perry Dozier.

Torres said she would need to consider any campaign in the 16th District carefully and talk to Dozier; she remains focused on the appeals process. She was frustrated by the ruling from Lasnik.

“They assume every Latino or Hispanic person is a Democrat and that is not the case. We don’t all vote the same,” she said.

Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, could not be reached for comment. Corry, who was moved from the 14th to the 15th District, said he would run in the 15th District if the new maps stay in place for the 2024 election.

District 16

Representatives: Mark Klicker, R-Walla Walla, and Skyler Rude, R-Walla Walla

Senator: Perry Dozier, R-Waitsburg

Under the new map, the 16th District is reshaped north of the Tri-Cities, picking up parts of West Richland, Richland and Benton City, but it still includes all of Walla Walla County.

The changes do not displace incumbent lawmakers, all Republicans, in District 16, and all have said they plan to run for reelection.

Rep. Mark Klicker of Walla Walla and Sen. Perry Dozier of Waitsburg announced plans to run for reelection this week.

Klicker said different areas of the Tri-Cities will be represented by District 16 lawmakers under the new map. The old legislative map based on 2020 census data cut south of the Tri-Cities and included the southern part of Kennewick, Benton City and Prosser.

“Your population base changes a little bit,” he said. “It just shifts counties, but I am going to pick up, I would think just by looking at it, more population.”

The map brings a whole new perspective headed into the next election cycle, Dozier said.

“This affects a lot of our Republican colleagues,” Dozier said.

In an email, Rude said he is still in the district and plans to run for reelection. He called the approved map an absurd solution because the new 14th District has a lower Latino voting population than the old 15th District and because it displaces Torres.

“This is a highly partisan solution that could have been resolved in a way that didn’t displace Sen. Torres and didn’t draw district lines through multiple communities, like West Richland, Benton City and Pasco,” Rude said.

How did we get here?

The new legislative map came about after a lawsuit said the old map violated the Voting Rights Act.

Lasnik ruled that the old districts did not give the Latino community in the Yakima Valley a fair opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.

State lawmakers had an opportunity to call on the state’s redistricting commission to draw the new boundaries, but Democratic leaders declined to do so. 

Who is involved?

The new boundaries affect 13 districts across Washington and Lasnik ordered they be adopted before the 2024 election. Reactions to the new maps have been mixed.

Most of the affected districts are represented by Republican lawmakers. 

Plaintiffs in the case include Yakima Valley community members, like Susan Soto Palmer and Caty Padilla, the executive director of Sunnyside-based nonprofit Nuestra Casa, who praised the new maps. Attorneys from the UCLA Voting Rights Project, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Campaign Legal Fund worked on the case.

State Democrats, as well as some candidates for seats in the new 14th District, have also spoken in favor of the maps.

Padilla said the new maps bring Yakima Valley Latinos together into one district and will allow better organization and representation.

State Rep. Alex Ibarra, R-Quincy, Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, and former Granger Mayor Jose Trevino are involved in the case on the other side. Torres issued a press release blasting the new maps on March 18, and state Republicans have criticized Lasnik’s decision and called the new boundaries partisan.