The New Maps (Guest: Bill Ballenger)

For the first time ever, Michigan’s new congressional and legislative district maps have been drawn by non-politicians: the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, created by the 2018 ballot proposal 2. What does it mean for Michigan’s political balance of power? And will the maps survive inevitable court challenges? Mark Brewer and Jeff Timmer are both experts on partisan redistricting from previous battles. They are joined by longtime Lansing political columnist Bill Ballenger to analyze what’s happened. Ballenger is a former state Representative and state Senator. For more than 40 years he’s been one of the state’s most respected commentators on the Michigan political scene. He founded the insiders’ newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, and later started his Ballenger Report Blog and weekly podcast. Here are the final maps approved by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission on December 28th: Congressional: Chestnut State Senate: Linden State House: Hickory