Alaska Constituency Council chooses final Senate map despite gerrymandering allegation

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Alaska Redistribution Board Chairman John Binkley chats with Juneau resident Reed Stoops at a Redistribution Open House in September 2021 (Lyndsey Brollini / KTOO)

The Alaska Redistribution Council adopted a final Senate map on Tuesday. But before that, Board member Nicole Borromeo criticized the card and opposed its adoption.

I think this opens the board to an unfortunate and very easily winnable argument against partisan gerrymandering, she said.

She criticized the proposals by board member Bethany Marcums included in the final map, singling out a neighborhood stretching from downtown Eagle River to the southern part of Anchorage’s Muldoon neighborhood over 11 km.

South Muldoon is more racially diverse than Eagle River, and Borromeo and fellow board member Melanie Bahnke have expressed concern that the voting strength of racial minorities would be weakened by combining the neighborhood with Eagle River.

The card was approved by the three members appointed by elected Republican officials.

On Friday, the board adopted a house map for Anchorage proposed by Borromeo. But as he twinned House districts to form Senate districts on Tuesday, the argument became intense.

Borromeo highlighted a statement from Marcum on Monday that Eagle River would be more represented on the map. Borromeo called for reconsidering the vote adopting the card.

Marcum had focused on public testimony about the links between Eagle River and the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson area and between Eagle River and Muldoon by supporting the two Senate districts of Eagle River.

But Borromeo said public testimony supported a different map for the region.

Borromeos’ request for reconsideration was denied, 3 to 2.

Marcum and board member E. Budd Simpson were appointed by Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy. Binkley was appointed by former Senate Speaker Cathy Giessel, also a Republican. Borromeo was appointed by former Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, an independent appointed by the Democrats. And Bahnke was appointed by former Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Joel Bolger.

Binkley, Marcum and Simpson voted for the final Anchorage Senate map, while Borromeo and Bahnke voted against. Bahnke said the final map was a total surprise, adding that she believed they had reached consensus on a different map.

The final map is different from what the majority of board members argued on Monday. Democratic Senators Tom Begich and Elvi Gray-Jackson will no longer be placed in the same district. The final card also places Republican Senator Josh Revak in a more Republican district than what the majority supported on Monday.

The district of Midtown Anchorage House in which he lives is now combined with part of Anchorage Hillside rather than the district which includes the University of Alaska Anchorage and neighboring hospitals.

But the plan for Eagle River to be represented by two senators has remained in place.

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