LINCOLN, Neb. (KMTV) — After hearing from the public, the Nebraska Unicameral seemed to listen, passing a new congressional map that keeps Douglas County whole.
The new map keeps the entirety of Douglas County in the 2nd Congressional District, which is represented by Rep. Don Bacon.
It will also include all of Saunders County and the western half of Sarpy County, keeping Papillion and Gretna with Omaha.
Senator Mike Hilgers was pleased to get some deal done, which wasn’t a given.
“I know this is something that hasn’t happened before in Nebraska and there was at least an open question as to whether or not we could complete this work in the special session,” he said.
District One is changing a bit with what appears to be all of Bellevue and La Vista, while also keeping Lincoln, Columbus, Norfolk and Fremont with current Rep. Jeff Fortenberry.
Vice Chair of the Redistricting Committee Sen. Justin Wayne preferred to keep Sarpy County whole and in the first district.
“The most direct route would have been through Sarpy and most of the time we heard that they wanted to keep Sarpy whole, we could have did that. I’m not going to get on the floor, badger everything and keep things going,” said Wayne.
Now, the legislature still has to figure out legislative districts, with debate on that possibly going into the evening.
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