WASHINGTON—The good news for Rep. Haley Stevens is that her 11th Congressional District was redrawn to become a lot more blue. The bad news is she will have to run against friend and fellow Michigan Democrat
Rep. Andy Levin
to stay in Congress.
Both say they have the best claim to the new district, after the state’s map was redrawn during a once-in-a-decade redistricting process. The district lost some of Ms. Stevens’s more-conservative constituents and picked up some more-liberal voters from the old districts of Mr. Levin and another adjacent lawmaker.
Mr. Levin called it a no-brainer, saying his house “is smack dab in the middle of the new 11th district,” all four of his children went to public schools there and his family history in the area goes back to the late 1800s.
Ms. Stevens said she went to high school in the district and most of her old constituents are in the new boundary. “This is the district for me to run for reelection in, you know? I don’t have anywhere else to go,” she said.
State legislatures and commissions redraw voter maps nationwide every 10 years to reflect population changes. The redistricting process is closely watched because the new lines can favor one party or the other headed into the midterm elections, potentially providing a crucial lift in determining control of the House, currently split 221 Democrats to 212 Republicans.
In some cases, the fresh maps pit political allies against one another, either by combining large parts of neighboring lawmakers’ districts or forcing lawmakers whose seats have been radically redrawn to seek a new home. In Michigan, Georgia, West Virginia and Illinois, roughly a dozen House members are expected to face off against colleagues from the same party. More races could follow once states finalize their maps.
“I don’t wish this on anybody—it’s much more fun to run against the other party,” said
Rep. Brad Sherman
(D., Calif.), who beat a Democratic colleague in a heated and expensive race after redistricting a decade ago.
Notable contests this time around include GOP Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney competing to represent the top half of West Virginia. Republican Reps.
Rodney Davis
and Mary Miller are competing for a district that surrounds, but doesn’t include, Springfield, Ill., while Democratic Reps.
Carolyn Bourdeaux
and
Lucy McBath
are both vying for a seat in the Atlanta suburbs.
Almost all of the incumbent vs. incumbent races are taking place in safe seats, meaning the winner is expected to go on and win the general election. The one exception is in Illinois’s Sixth Congressional District, where Democratic Reps. Sean Casten and
Marie Newman
are facing off in the primary in a district where the GOP is expected to be competitive.
Mr. Casten says he is the better fit after flipping a Republican-held seat in 2018, because he can appeal to voters across the ideological spectrum. Ms. Newman, who won a Democratic primary in 2020 by running to the left, said she can rally voters throughout the district because she has lived in towns throughout the area—even if she currently lives just outside of the new boundaries.
Some lawmakers have decided to retire rather than face difficult races in newly drawn districts. So far, 26 Democrats and 13 Republicans have said they would not seek reelection next year, with some pushed out by the changes to their state’s map.
David Wasserman, the senior House editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said member-vs.-member primaries are nothing new after redistricting. However, unlike cycles past, these races are currently all between members of the same party, rather than incumbents of different parties, reinforcing how map drawers have whittled down the number of competitive seats nationwide.
Incumbents come into these matchups with different advantages. Some are keeping more of their previous district than their opponent, giving them a potential boost in name recognition. Others could benefit from a shift in demographics in their new district—or, on the Republican side, their ties to former President
“Democratic primaries are more about identity politics and groups, whereas Republican primaries are more about Trump than ever before,” Mr. Wasserman said.
One marquee matchup is expected to be for Georgia’s new Seventh Congressional District, which pits Ms. McBath, a prominent backer of gun control restrictions, against Ms. Bourdeaux, a member of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition. Ms. McBath won her seat in 2018 and Ms. Bourdeaux followed in 2020, with both flipping seats previously won by Republicans.
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Mr. Wasserman notes that while Ms. Bourdeaux is keeping more of her current constituents in the new district, Ms. McBath, who is African-American, could have an advantage attracting support in the new near-majority Black district as a result of her personal story: the murder of her son in a dispute over music he was playing. She has picked up a key endorsement from
Rep. Jim Clyburn
(D., S.C.), the highest-ranking Black lawmaker in Congress, who was also scheduled to hold a fundraiser for her. Ms. Bourdeaux, who is white, has said that her record is well known with voters in the redrawn district, as she has already been representing many of them.
Some of the GOP incumbent vs. incumbent races could test the power of Mr. Trump two years after leaving office.
West Virginia’s House delegation was reduced to two seats from three due to a declining population, forcing GOP Reps. Mooney and McKinley into the same race. Mr. Mooney has the backing of Mr. Trump, while Mr. McKinley voted to certify the 2020 election results and create a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. He also voted in favor of a bipartisan infrastructure package that Mr. Trump opposed.
In Michigan’s new Fourth District, Republican
Rep. Fred Upton,
one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump, would face
Rep. Bill Huizenga,
who voted against impeachment. A spokesman for Mr. Upton said he hasn’t decided if he will seek reelection.
In Illinois’s 15th District, Mr. Trump endorsed Ms. Miller over Rep. Davis, but both are planning to highlight their ties to the former president.
“President Trump endorsed me based on my record as an America First, pro-Second Amendment, pro-life conservative, which makes me the best fit,” Ms. Miller said, referring to his policies on nationalism, guns and abortion. Ms. Miller’s allies cite Mr. Davis’s vote to certify President Biden’s 2020 election win and to establish an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot as instances when he broke with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Davis says that he was a 2020 Trump campaign co-chairman in Illinois and points to Democrats’ past attack ads touting how closely aligned he was to Mr. Trump.
“It’s helpful because it defines who I am. I’m not gonna change who I am, I’m a conservative, I’m never going to sacrifice my core values and principles,” he said.
Write to Eliza Collins at eliza.collins+1@wsj.com. and Brian McGill at Brian.McGill@wsj.com
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