As Bellevue residents enter the new year, the top of their “To Do” will have to include the following:

Find something – anything? – in common with people in Tukwila and Des Moines. Thanks to redistricting, we’re now  part of the Ninth Congressional District for future federal elections.

Here are our new “neighbors”:

Tukwila

Des Moines

Southeast Seattle

North Tacoma

It also means saying goodbye to our friends in Issaquah and Sammamish along with the more rural areas south and east of Seattle.

The change, from being represented by Rep. Dave Reichert in the 8th congressional district to Rep. Adam Smith in the 9th, comes because the state is required to balance the population in congressional districts following the census every 10 years. The state also picked up an additional district because of population growth.

There’s another twist to this new arrangement: the 9th district is the state’s first where minorities represent a majority of the population, 50.3 percent actually.

We’re not convinced that the minorities in Bellevue have as much in common with those in southeast Seattle as they do with the rest of the population in Bellevue and Mercer Island.

This all becomes official 30 days after the Legislature convenes, which is Monday. And come this fall, we’ll all get to vote for a new congressman – Rep. Adam Smith, or whomever chooses to run against him. Time to do our homework.

– Craig Groshart, Bellevue Reporter