Redrawn legislative districts will be shifting political boundaries across the state, but Cape Ann's districts have been left untouched.
Legislators on the State Redistricting Committee this week released re-drawn district maps, dividing the state into 40 Senate districts of about 163,691 residents, and 160 House districts of about 40,923 residents.
That process added a few precincts onto Sen. Bruce Tarr's district, and changed the status of two towns within the district held by Rep. Bradford Hill, the Ipswich Republican who represents the town of Manchester.
But neither of those revisions involves Cape Ann's four communities, and all of the moves left Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante's House district without a single change.
In addition to reflecting shifting populations, new House and Senate district maps will be closely analyzed for how well they reflect the interests of minority voters, whether the maps effectively group communities with common interests, and of course for the potential political and election matchups the maps create.
Creating a "majority minority" district in Lawrence and a growing population in Peabody shifted Hill's district.
"That set off a domino effect that went all the way to Peabody," Hill said. Both Tarr and Hill sit on the Redistricting Committee.
The proposed new district in Lawrence resulted in Hill losing Middleton and Boxford, and picking up Topsfield and Rowley in their place. He said he doesn't expect any local changes.
"I don't foresee any changes on Cape Ann," he said.
The redrawn districts reflect a decade worth of population changes.
According to 2010 Census numbers, the state's overall population grew 3.1 per cent to 6,547,629 over the last decade.
Locally, the population has dropped in Rockport, Gloucester, and Manchester this year. Essex, however, grew to 3,504 residents, up from 3,267 in 2000.
Gloucester fell to 28,789, down from 30,273 in 2000. Rockport fell to 6,952 down from 7,767. Manchester dropped to 5,136 from 5,228.
Though two of the three communities in her district saw losses in total population, Ferrante said gains in Essex kept it stable.
"We didn't change very much," she said.
Troy Wall, spokesperson for Tarr's office, said the Senate minority leader — whose district includes all of Cape Ann — added a handful of precincts in North Andover, but overall, his district remained fairly stable as well.
Hill said the process, this time around, has been more open and transparent than it was 10 years ago.
"We've put the map out ahead of the vote, we're giving people an option to comment on this map," said Hill, adding that it's the first time in recent memory that a redistricting committee has done that.
Steven Fletcher may be contacted at 1-978-283-7000 x3455 or sfletcher@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevengdt.
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