Significant changes in the first draft of new state legislative and congressional maps affects who will represent the people of Marshall County in political office.

The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency released a first draft of district maps on Thursday.

The new maps take effect with the elections in 2022.

Iowa lawmakers will reconvene for a special session on Oct. 5 to discuss and vote on the new maps. If the maps are rejected by the Iowa Legislature, the Legislative Services Agency will have to redraw the maps and if rejected a second time lawmakers can make their own changes.

The state of Iowa will keep its four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, but Marshall County will see new faces in the Iowa Legislature and who represents them in Washington D.C.

Marshall County gains a senate seat in the Iowa Legislature under the proposed maps.

Currently the 36th Iowa Senate District covers all of Marshall County and Tama County, but the new map splits Marshall County with two districts. The new map groups incumbent State Sen. Jeff Edler (R-State Center) with another incumbent State Sen. Annette Sweeney (R-Alden) in the 24th senate district. The two incumbents would have to run against each other if both seek re-election.

The 34th senate district will cover Marshalltown plus Tama County, Benton County and a small portion of Black Hawk county. No incumbent state senator currently resides in the area, making the district up for grabs in the 2022 election.

As for the Iowa House, the new map pushes the 36th district seat held by Rep. Dean Fisher (R-Montour) out of Marshall County. Two districts would occupy Marshall County, the 67th district where incumbent Rep. Sue Cahill (D-Marshalltown) resides and the 48th district where there is no incumbent representative.

Fisher said he has not formulated an opinion yet on the proposed maps and is still digesting them.

Under the new congressional maps, the first and second congressional districts are now flipped. The first district now occupies a smaller south-eastern corner of the state, excluding Marshall County which before was within the first district. Marshall County is now within the second district.

U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) who currently represents Iowa’s First District would no longer serve Marshall County if maps are approved, changing Marshall County’s house representative to Marianette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) if she is re-elected in 2022.

Hinson’s campaign manager Sophie Crowell said there is a long process still to play out.

“Congresswoman Hinson is focused on serving her district, not drawing it,” Crowell said.

Redistricting in Iowa happens every 10 years. COVID-19 delayed 2020 Census data, which is collected every 10 years and influences how the maps are drawn. The delay pushed the deadline to approve the maps from Sept. 15 back to Dec. 1.

For those who would like to give feedback on the proposed maps, three virtual meetings will be hosted next week:

• Monday at 7 p.m.

• Tuesday at noon

• Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Links to the meetings can be found at www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/publicHearings.

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Contact Trevor Babcock at 641-753-6611 or tbabcock@timesrepublican.com.