Numbers don’t favor Douglas

The U.S. Census expects to release redistricting numbers to the public today.

Back in April the Census released apportionment data that showed the population of each state and whether there would be a change in representation in Congress.

That showed Nevada didn’t gain enough population for another member of Congress, though it was the fifth fastest growing state in the union.

According to the Census, the Silver State grew by 404,063 people over the past decade to 3.1 million.

We don’t have the numbers in front of us, but it doesn’t take much of a handicapper to argue that a very small percentage of the more than 400,000 new Nevada residents moved to Douglas County.

That number amounts to eight times the number of people living in the county according to the latest estimates.

Unlike reapportionment numbers, redistricting numbers drill down to the county and even town level.

They are used by every level of government from the state down to determine representation. For Douglas that’s going to be a pretty big deal.

While Democrats were in the majority during the 2011 redistricting, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed their efforts. That’s not going to happen when a special session of the Legislature is called in the coming weeks.

We’ve been fortunate to be represented by Douglas residents over the past decade, but that’s unlikely to happen in the near future.

Sen. James Settelmeyer is term-limited and even he acknowledged that’s it’s pretty common to redraw a seat that’s going vacant.

We don’t know what the new districts will look like, but we wager Douglas County’s Republican majority isn’t going to be happy with the results.