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To: fieldmarshaldj
Wasn't there a third district in the 70's or 80's from there?(Or did Dingell's) I'm also trying to remember if that was a white or a black district. I'm assuming it was the (then) white far western part, since my parents don't remember ever having Conyers(whose had all of Western Detroit since the 90's or maybe 80's) as their rep.

I know the 1992 and 2002 maps, but not before then.

12 posted on 06/17/2005 8:37:39 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan (Defeat Stabenow in 06!!!!)
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To: Dan from Michigan; AuH2ORepublican

Looking at it from 1963-on, there were roughly between 6-8 Detroit or partial Wayne County seats.

District #1 (pre-1965) was represented by (Caucasian Pole) liberal 'Rat Lucien Nedzi, that district was the north/south sliver of east of Downtown straight out to 8-Mile, encompassing Hamtramck.

District #13 (pre-'65) was represented by (Black) 'Rat Charles C. Diggs, then the lone African-American from Michigan (first elected in 1954), and his district was central downtown, in the same sliver north/south shape as the 1st, also taking in Highland Park on its way up to 8-mile.

District #14 (pre-'65) was represented by centrist 'Rat(Caucasian) Harold Ryan. His district was everything east of the 1st, to the river and the Grosse Points, obviously upper-crust.

District #15 (pre-'65) was Dingell's bailiwick. Then it was also the similar-shaped sliver virtually identical to the 1st & 13th, running along the west side of downtown up to 8-Mile. It did not even go as far as Dearborn, yet.

District #16 (pre-'65) was John Lesinski's district (a Caucasian Polish 'Rat, and fairly Conservative), then encompassing all of southern Wayne County including Dearborn.

District #17 (pre-'65) was Martha Griffiths' (lib 'Rat) district, encompassing west of the city to the northwest corner of Wayne County.

Due to the CRA as well as Baker v. Carr, the state was forced to redraw the lines for the '64 elections. In doing so, despite an obvious decline in population for the city, increased the number of districts touching the city and county from 6 to 9 !

The 1st district had its southern half chopped off above downtown and was merged with most of the upper half of the 13th, creating John Conyers' district (Conyers had narrowly beaten the more moderate Richard Austin in the primary. Austin later became the first African-American elected statewide in MI 6 years later). That new district had everything north of downtown to 8-Mile. Lucien Nedzi had to move east to run in the 14th where Harold Ryan was.

The 2nd, which had previously been not in the city, but in the far distant suburbs (and a heavily GOP seat), was moved into a semi-circle around Wayne County, going so far into Martha Griffiths' 17th into NW Wayne, and the seat flipped to a 'Rat in that election, Weston Vivian.

The 12th, which had previously the district for the Western UP (!) was shifted to the Detroit area. The previous 7th district liberal 'Rat incumbent, James O'Hara, represented the Thumb, was forced south into compact Macomb County, and as far down into Wayne County as Harper Woods !

The 13th was designed to encompass all of the central downtown now, merging the old 1st, 13th, 14th, & 15th southern halves into one. Charles Diggs no longer had to worry about representing the Polish or Caucasian sections of the city anymore.

The 14th saw a brutal primary between Nedzi and Harold Ryan, with Nedzi prevailing, taking the redrawn 14th, now including his old area near Hamtramck and all of the Grosse Pointes (save for Harper Woods).

Dingell's 15th was eliminated completely, now it was apart of 3 separate districts, the 1st, 16th, and 17th. He chose to move south into the 16th. The new 15th was now in southwest-central Wayne Co, west of Dearborn. That was won by liberal 'Rat William D. Ford.

The new 16th was downriver Detroit, above Monroe County (cutting off the Western half, which became the new 15th). This was the seat Dingell carpetbagged into and he unexpectedly knocked off John Lesinski, Jr., who represented the bulk of the seat.

The new 17th was the result of the old one being chopped up into 3 parts. Martha Griffiths remained in the seat, but the new district centered on west of Conyers district, including Southfield.

The new 19th was the central part of the old 17th, essentially all of Livonia, and that seat also fell to a 'Rat named Billie Farnum.

With unchanged lines, LBJ tidalwave winners in the 2nd and 19th districts fell to Republicans, Marvin Esch (a liberal RINO) and Jack McDonald (a moderate).

After redistricting in 1972, with the rapidly declining population, the number of districts abutting the city and county went from 9 to 7.

The 1st, Conyers's seat, was forced to expand slightly east and west to more Caucasian/Polish areas (and also had to allow for the Diggs' 13th to expand as well).

The 2nd, still in the hands of RINO Marvin Esch, saw it expand within Wayne to encompass both it and the old 19th in the NW end. Previous 19th incumbent, GOPer Jack McDonald moved into Oakland County and lost to old 18th district GOPer incumbent William Broomfield in the new 19th.

The 13th, still remained in Charles Diggs's hands, with only minor modifications and expansions (into the 1st and 14th, north and east).

The 14th, Nedzi's seat, remained largely the same, though taking back the Harper Woods section and slightly inching up into Macomb County.

The 15th remained in Bill Ford's hands, though rejiggered slightly, now having to reach into Monroe County and partially along downriver.

The 16th under Dingell stayed mostly the same, save for shedding part of downriver to Ford.

The 17th under Griffiths also remained largely the same, although having to inch slightly westward.

The only changeover in 1974 was Griffiths' retirement and replacement by another liberal 'Rat, Bill Brodhead (who barely beat a Conservative in the primary).

In 1976, the changeover was in the 2nd, when RINO Esch ran against ex-RINO turned 'Rat Don Riegle, losing 53-47%. He was replaced by another liberal RINO, Carl Pursell.

No changeover occurred again until the indicted Charles Diggs resigned and was succeed by elderly radical Commie George Crockett, Jr. in the 13th in 1980.

Later that year, liberal 'Rat Dennis Hertel succeeded Lucien Nedzi in the 14th (Eastern Detroit/Grosse Pointes) seat, who had seen his career descend downwards after missteps.

After the 1982 redistricting, we begin to see where the ridiculous Justice Dept.-ordered gerrymandering to preserve Black districts begins. Still holding onto the same 7 districts, despite jaw-dropping population declines, the districts still reelected 6 of 7 incumbents.

Conyers's 1st now had to dramatically expand outward, gobbling up 1/3rd of Hertel's old 14th, and most dramatically, more than 1/2 (!) of Brodhead's 17th, with a tentacle reaching down into Dingell's 16th.

Pursell's 2nd also similarly expanded westward, although still encompassing the last vestigates of substantial Republican strength in NW Wayne, the bulk of his district went as far west as the Indiana border !

Crockett's 13th also had to increase dramatically in size, now expanding partly more into the 14th and downriver into Dingell's seat.

Hertel's 14th was forced to move further into Oakland, though still hanging onto what was left of extreme NE Wayne.

Bill Ford's 15th was forced to cede sections on the NE and SE sides to the 16th and 17th districts respectively, and forced westward towards Ann Arbor to take up the slack.

Dingell's 16th was also similarly shifted, though maintaining the sliver between the river, Ford's and Crockett 'n Conyers's districts, was forced to expand dramatically southward into Monroe County, and into Pursell's GOP areas in the previous 2nd.

The big surprise was in the 17th, where Bill Brodhead was expected to remain, he chose to retire out of the blue, and the seat was halved and expanded (in a sliver) southward into Ford's 15th and into Oakland County. Forced out because of the division of the 14th, 17th, and 18th districts was then-Rep. Jim Blanchard, who vacated his seat for the successful Governor's race that year. The new 17th would now be represented by our friend, the obnoxious liberal 'Rat, Sandy Levin.

And, of course, things remained the same in all the districts for the next 8 years until Barbara Rose-Collins succeeded Crockett in the 13th.

When the '92 redistricting came, the number of districts abutting Detroit/Wayne was reduced from 7 to 6.

What was formerly Conyers's 1st was "moved" to the Upper Peninsula.

Pursell's 2nd, too, was "moved" to the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, hundreds of miles away.

In their places now were the new 11th, while mostly in Oakland County, took in Livonia and Redford Twp, now mostly what was left of Pursell's chunk of the old 2nd and Broomfield's 18th (both leaving Congress that year), with the new Conservative GOPer, Joe Knollenberg, taking the seat.

The 12th was now what remained of the old 17th and parts of what was left of the old 14th, now mostly (barely) anything left in Wayne, and that was what Sandy Levin held onto, now mostly in Oakland County.

The new 13th was essentially all of the old 15th, still represented by Bill Ford, though taking part's of Pursell's old 2nd (and Pursell opted to retire rather than take on Ford).

The new 14th was Conyers's newly-drawn district, taking in all of the old 1st and expanding it mostly into Dennis Hertel's old 14th and most of the Grosse Pointe areas. No doubt had you told many residents there in the 1960s that Conyers would be their Rep. within 25 years, they'd have thought it insane.

The new 15th, still with Barbara Rose-Collins was also similarly expanded, originally the old 13th, now had to expand westward into what Conyers didn't have in the Grosses and southward further along the river into Dingell's realm.

Dingell's 16th still was largely the same shape, though having to lose some to Collins, but he was further and further away from the seat he originally represented, now entirely gobbled up within the Conyers district years beforehand.

After Ford's retirement in the 13th and replacement by the leftist 'Rat, Lynn Nancy Rivers in '94, and Collins's primary defeat in '96 by Carolyn Kilpatrick, there were no changes until the '02 redistricting.

Since I have not seen the new maps for '02, yet, I don't know how many of the seats were changed around and still take in Wayne County anymore. I know that Rivers and Dingell were forced into an Ann Arbor-area seat (which would've been quite the shock to Dingell's old man).

In any event, that's pretty much the history of Detroit's/Wayne County seats from 1963-2003.


18 posted on 06/17/2005 12:01:29 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (*Gregoire is French for Stealing an Election*)
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