Back in January, House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (D-West Seattle) sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment that would let WA redraw its maps mid-decade—if another state did so first.
Right now, Washington’s constitution only allows redistricting once a decade, and maps are drawn by a bipartisan commission.
Fitzgibbon's proposal didn't make it out of committee, but he said he knew it wouldn't get the two-thirds supermajority needed to pass in the legislature.
"I introduced it this last session just to show that we were thinking about it and that we had options," he said.
When Fitzgibbon introduced the amendment, it was in response to states like Texas answering President Donald Trump's call to redraw districts to favor Republicans and gain an advantage in the 2026 midterms.
Now that more Republican-led states are looking to do so in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that reinterprets part of the Voting Rights Act, Fitzgibbon says Democrats should do the same for their party.
"I don't think that's good for democracy for one party to have a lock on the U.S. House," he told SPR. "I think it's particularly dangerous when you have a president who treats Congress as if they work for him."
But his proposal depends on whether his party can pick up enough seats this November to hold supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature.
The Democrats need to pick up 6 House seats and 3 Senate seats to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to bring a constitutional amendment to voters.
Then, two-thirds of voters would also need to approve.
But Fitzgibbon said he thinks the appetite for his proposal has increased since he first introduced it.
"I think we would have support for it in the voters," he told SPR. "And I think it will, again, be up to the voters whether or not there's a legislative majority next session in 2027."
Fitzgibbon spoke about the possibility with SPR's Owen Henderson. As you'll hear, the connection wasn't the best. But you should still be able to understand him.
This conversation has been edited for time and clarity.
OWEN HENDERSON: At the start of this year and well before this ruling, but while there were still conversations happening in other parts of the country, you and a handful of Democrats in the state House introduced a potential constitutional amendment that would allow Washington to redraw its maps in the middle of a decade under certain conditions. How would that have worked?
JOE FITZGIBBON: Yeah, so the amendment that I proposed would allow the Washington legislature to redraw our congressional map mid-decade if another state chooses to redraw their maps mid-decade, as Texas, Florida, and others have done.
Now, with the U.S. Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, we're seeing even more states—Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama—now adding themselves to the list of states that want to redraw maps to eliminate Democratic districts around the country.
I think that's dangerous, and I think that Washington voters deserve a chance to consider whether we should join California and Virginia in fighting that against this undemocratic trend.
OH: So that amendment didn't advance out of the legislature this past session, but will you bring it back? Do you think there would be more support for that plan now than last time, both in the legislature and among state voters?
JF: I do think that Washington voters would support it. Our constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both the state House and the state Senate in order to propose a constitutional amendment to the voters.
And realistically, we know that no Republican in our legislature is going to vote for changing our redistricting process because they only want to see legislative redistricting in states that are controlled by Republicans.
The question of whether or not we could be successful in presenting this amendment to the voters, I think, depends on legislative elections this November and whether Democrats pick up enough seats in the state House and the state Senate to be able to present that constitutional amendment to the voters.
So I introduced it this last session just to show that we were thinking about it and that we had options, but that those options would hinge on whether or not, you know, on how legislative elections go in Washington this fall.
I think we would have support for it for in the voters, and I think it will, again, be up to the voters whether or not there's a legislative majority next session in 2027 that would be willing to support putting this question to the voters.
OH: Now, let's just say this constitutional amendment passes. Right now, Washington has just two congressional districts that are represented by Republicans, Districts 4 and 5. They comprise most of Central and Eastern Washington. There's another very, very tightly contested district, District 3. Is it even viable to redo the maps to fully draw out Republicans, or would that put safe Democratic districts at risk?
JF: Yeah, I think that the real decision, assuming this constitutional amendment passes, would be before the legislature in the future. What I think would make sense would be to have at least a competitive district, likely not a safe Democratic district, but a competitive district in eastern Washington that unites communities like Spokane and Yakima and Pullman and Walla Walla and parts of the cities that have been hit really hard by Donald Trump's policies.
And I think a congressional district that unites many of the more urban communities in Eastern Washington would be competitive and would give voters in those communities, you know, a chance to really consider how well they're being served by their current representation.
OH: Representative Fitzgibbon, thanks for your time this morning.
JF: My pleasure. Thank you, Owen.
