Stephens Media reports that Gov. Mike Beebe submitted a proposal for redrawing state Senate districts today.
The map protects incumbents from facing each other and aims at accommodating population shifts without unduly ignoring geographic communities of interest, but oddly shaped districts are unavoidable in a state with large swaths of undeveloped area, scattered pockets of dense population and all the rest. Presumably, within that framework, Beebe has done his best to help Democratic interests as well, though it’s believed some Republicans were helped by boundary lines in the GOP-heavy Northwest Arkansas area (though perhaps to the detriment of some other Republicans — remember the governor had a lot of Republican support in his election bids.)
Republicans aren’t howling yet, but they’ll surely find ground to complain. It’s not clear if Attorney General Dustin McDaniel agrees with Beebe on the map or will have one of his own. The two Democrats will control the process, with the third member being Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin.