In an editorial entitled “Proposition 11 Would End Conflict of Interest in Redistricting,” the Contra Costa Times endorsed Proposition 11. The Times looks hard at the number of seats that change party hands in elections:
New faces appear from time to time because of term limits, but the political parties do not change. In 2004, 80 seats in the Assembly, 20 of the 40 state Senate seats and 53 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives were at stake. Of these 153 seats, not one changed party hands.
Two years later, in 2006, 153 seats were again up for grabs. Once again, not a single seat in the Legislature changed parties, and only one congressional seat changed, when Democrat Rep. Jerry McNerney defeated Republican Richard Pombo.
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