PRESS RELEASE

For Release: October 10, 2011 Contact: Pam Stocksdale (410) 374-3881

Senator Getty Proposes Congressional Redistricting Plan That Preserves 6th Congressional District Senator Joe Getty (R-Carroll & Baltimore) announced today that he will introduce a bill during the special session of the Maryland General Assembly that preserves the current configuration of the 6th Congressional District. The 6th Congressional District has a strong and rich tradition of leadership by talented representatives who, regardless of party affiliation, have understood the needs and priorities of their rural constituency, said Senator Getty. The purpose of the plan adopted by the Governors Redistricting Advisory Committee (GRAC) is to end that tradition by diluting the rural population with urban Montgomery County residents in order to tilt the political character of the district in favor of a Democrat candidate. The redistricting plan proposed by Senator Getty would retain all of Frederick and Carroll counties and the northern sections of Baltimore and Harford counties similar to the 6th Districts current configuration. In addition to preserving the 6th Congressional District, the plan would remove the oddly distorted 3rd Congressional District from the Baltimore metropolitan region and shift it to become a minority majority district encompassing the central parts of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties. This redistricting proposal truly reflects the changing demographics of Maryland as revealed by the 2010 federal census, Senator Getty added. I did not begin with the premise that the purpose of redistricting was to protect the current incumbents stranglehold on power. Instead, I drew a map that represents the diverse communities of the state by insuring continuation of representation of rural citizens in Western Maryland as well as creating a new district for the burgeoning minority population in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. In analyzing the 2010 census data, Getty said, The state of Maryland grew at 9% over the last decade and that entire growth cycle was due to statewide increases in minority population primarily within the Hispanic community. My proposed map follows the intent of the 1965 Voting Rights Act by creating a third minority district to reflect Marylands changing demographic trends and to protect minority voting rights.

Press Release By Senator Joseph M. Getty October 10, 2011 Page 2 A statistical chart that accompanies the proposed map by Senator Getty shows that the new 3rd Congressional District would have 25% Hispanic population and 40% African-American population (65% total minority population) while still retaining a 54% minority population in the states two existing minority-majority districts (the 4th and 7th districts). The reality of the census data is that over a period of six decades there has been significant population loss in Baltimore City, Getty continued. If a new congressional seat is to be established that favors Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, it should be drawn at the expense of Baltimore City not at the expense of Western Maryland. Under the GRAC proposed map, it is an affront to all citizens of Western Maryland to lose rural representation in our state, Getty concluded. The 6th Congressional District has not lost population. Instead it has gained population over the past decade. So to lose representation on the sole basis of partisan politics through a gerrymandered map is just plain wrong.

Allegany Garrett

Washington

06
Carroll Harford Frederick Howard Baltimore

Cecil

07
Baltimore City

02
Kent

08 03
Montgomery Anne Arundel

Queen Anne's

04
Talbot Caroline

Calvert Dorchester Charles

05
Wicomico

01
St. Mary's Worcester

Somerset

Senator Joe Getty Marylands Census Reality Congressional Redistricting Plan

District 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

%18+ Af-American 12.11% 20.43% 40.39% 54.71% 25.88% 6.44% 55.95% 11.75%

% 18+ Hispanic 3.09% 4.91% 25.30% 6.79% 4.87% 3.37% 2.85% 7.45%

% 18+ Caucasian 81.93% 69.00% 24.30% 30.04% 63.95% 87.08% 36.57% 64.17%