Tulsa's lack of growth may set redistricting priorities

BY RANDY KREHBIEL & CURTIS KILLMAN World Staff Writers
Thursday, February 17, 2011
10/24/11 at 4:04 PM

Correction
This story originally contained a graphic with incorrect Census numbers for Tulsa's Metropolitan Statistical Area. The graphic has been corrected.

View interactive maps showing population change and racial makeup by county.

Related story: Region shows growth of 8 percent.

Tulsa's stagnant population over the past decade, and surrounding suburbs' explosive growth, are reflected in state legislative district census figures released Wednesday.

The city of Tulsa includes the smallest House and Senate districts, three of the smallest four House districts and two of the three smallest Senate districts.

Owasso, on the other hand, has the largest House district and fifth-largest Senate district, while Broken Arrow has the third-largest Senate district and the sixth-largest House district.

According to the 2010 Census, eight House and three Senate districts located entirely or almost entirely within the Tulsa city limits have substantially fewer residents than the population target range for redistricting.

Districts on the city's periphery, however, and those encompassing some suburbs exceed the target range by as much as 25 percent.

The result is that several Tulsa districts are likely to be redrawn to include more suburban dwellers. Theoretically, it could even mean Tulsa losing representation in the state Legislature.

"I think the city of Tulsa probably will lose a House seat, or at least have one move toward Wagoner County," said Keith Gaddie, a University of Oklahoma political science professor who consults on redistricting matters.

Rep. Ron Peters, R-Tulsa, the chairman of the committee in charge of House redistricting for northeastern Oklahoma, said he didn't think Tulsa would lose a seat, but added that the committee has only just started redistricting work. Under state law, new boundaries must be set by the time the Legislature adjourns in May or a three-member commission will take over.

Federal case law requires that legislative districts be as near equal in population and demographics as possible. The law also requires that districts not be drawn in a way that would tend to disenfranchise minorities.

The Senate district population target is 78,153. The target range, which allows for a 5 percent variation, is 74,245 to 82,061.

The House target is 37,142. The range is 35,285 to 38,999.

The 2010 population for 11 of the 24 Tulsa-area House districts fell below the target range and only six were above the target range.

Four of the 11 area Senate districts were below the target range, while four exceeded it.

North Tulsa's HD 72, represented by Democrat Seneca Scott, is the smallest in the state, with 31,381, an 8 percent decline from 2000. An adjoining district, HD 73 represented by Democrat Jabar Shumate, is the third smallest district with 32,082.

Peters' midtown HD 70 is the fourth-smallest, at 32,101.

House districts 71, 66, 68, 69 and 79 are all more than 1,000 residents below the target range.

Gaddie suggested one solution to redistricting in the Tulsa area would be to move HD 23, now located in east Tulsa, farther east. The seat will be open in 2012 because incumbent Sue Tibbs, a Republican is term-limited.

Moving the district farther east, into Rogers and Wagoner counties, would allow it to absorb excess population in Districts 98 and 74.

HD 74, represented by Owasso Republican David Derby, is now the largest district in the state with almost 50,000 residents. HD 98, represented by Broken Arrow Republican John Trebilcock, has 44,500.

SD 11, represented by Democrat Judy Eason McIntyre, is the smallest Senate district in the state with 66,456 residents, some 4,500 fewer than 10 years ago.

SD 33, represented by Democrat Tom Adelson, is the third-smallest Senate district with 68,949 residents.

Also significantly undersized is SD 35, represented by Republican Gary Stanislawski.

Broken Arrow Republican Bill Brown's SD 36, by comparison has 94,207, a 30 percent increase from a year ago and about 15 percent more than the upper end of the target range.

Potentially complicating the situation is a move to exclude illegal immigrants counted in the Census from consideration in the redistricting process. A Texas test case on the issue is pending.

State Senate District population comparison, 2000-2010

*Target population=78,153

State Senate Dist.	2000 population	2010 population	Percent change
Dist. 11	71,127	66,456	-6.6%
Dist. 20	70,769	68,510	-3.2%
Dist. 33	73,359	68,949	-6.0%
Dist. 5	70,731	68,974	-2.5%
Dist. 26	70,179	69,504	-1.0%
Dist. 38	70,673	70,224	-0.6%
Dist. 30	72,157	71,145	-1.4%
Dist. 35	73,077	71,643	-2.0%
Dist. 40	72,348	71,882	-0.6%
Dist. 46	70,694	71,941	1.8%
Dist. 27	71,276	72,228	1.3%
Dist. 13	70,609	73,191	3.7%
Dist. 32	70,776	73,590	4.0%
Dist. 7	70,165	73,650	5.0%
Dist. 48	72,449	73,775	1.8%
Dist. 29	72,187	74,057	2.6%
Dist. 39	73,411	74,146	1.0%
Dist. 12	71,572	74,360	3.9%
Dist. 17	70,383	74,685	6.1%
Dist. 9	73,540	75,370	2.5%
Dist. 8	72,452	75,663	4.4%
Dist. 1	72,599	75,819	4.4%
Dist. 28	70,873	76,209	7.5%
Dist. 42	71,707	76,564	6.8%
Dist. 10	72,167	76,617	6.2%
Dist. 14	73,252	76,649	4.6%
Dist. 19	71,946	77,948	8.3%
Dist. 4	73,360	78,222	6.6%
Dist. 18	71,807	78,236	9.0%
Dist. 43	72,220	78,345	8.5%
Dist. 31	72,244	78,520	8.7%
Dist. 16	72,607	78,677	8.4%
Dist. 44	72,331	79,225	9.5%
Dist. 6	70,542	79,973	13.4%
Dist. 3	73,552	80,333	9.2%
Dist. 23	71,426	80,676	13.0%
Dist. 21	72,518	81,344	12.2%
Dist. 2	71,361	82,935	16.2%
Dist. 25	72,699	84,784	16.6%
Dist. 45	71,651	85,350	19.1%
Dist. 37	73,230	85,784	17.1%
Dist. 15	71,039	87,049	22.5%
Dist. 41	71,616	88,446	23.5%
Dist. 34	70,691	88,558	25.3%
Dist. 47	71,276	89,219	25.2%
Dist. 36	72,488	94,207	30.0%
Dist. 22	72,519	98,783	36.2%
Dist. 24	72,999	98,936	35.5%

State House District population comparison, 2000-2010

*Target population=37,142

State House Dist.	2000 population	2010 population	Percent change
Dist. 11	34,202	36,668	7.2%
Dist. 23	33,983	35,375	4.1%
Dist. 24	34,062	35,109	3.1%
Dist. 29	33,993	35,727	5.1%
Dist. 30	34,182	37,080	8.5%
Dist. 35	34,175	36,242	6.0%
Dist. 36	34,395	37,155	8.0%
Dist. 66	34,221	33,310	-2.7%
Dist. 67	34,439	38,956	13.1%
Dist. 68	33,985	34,149	0.5%
Dist. 69	34,316	43,787	27.6%
Dist. 70	34,367	32,101	-6.6%
Dist. 71	34,389	33,019	-4.0%
Dist. 72	34,118	31,381	-8.0%
Dist. 73	34,131	32,082	-6.0%
Dist. 74	34,223	48,540	41.8%
Dist. 75	34,123	43,989	28.9%
Dist. 76	34,064	36,852	8.2%
Dist. 77	34,159	34,596	1.3%
Dist. 78	34,284	32,376	-5.6%
Dist. 79	34,119	34,194	0.2%
Dist. 80	34,162	42,137	23.3%
Dist. 9	34,049	42,020	23.4%
Dist. 98	33,849	44,506	31.5%

Northeastern Oklahoma

City population changes, 2000-10

City	2000 population	2010 population	Percent change
Bartlesville	34,748	35,750	2.88%
Bixby	13,336	20,884	56.60%
Bristow	4,325	4,222	-2.38%
Broken Arrow	74,859	98,850	32.05
Catoosa	5,449	7,151	31.24
Checotah	3,481	3,335	-4.19
Claremore	15,873	18,581	17.06
Collinsville	4,077	5,606	37.50
Coweta	7,139	9,943	39.28
Cushing	8371	7,826	-6.51
Eufaula	2,639	2,813	6.59
Fort Gibson	4054	4,154	2.47
Foyil	234	344	47.01
Glenpool	8,123	10,808	33.05
Grove	5,131	6,623	29.08
Henryetta	6,096	5,927	-2.77
Inola	1,589	1,788	12.52
Jay	2,482	2,448	-1.37
Jenks	9,557	16,924	77.08
Kellyville	906	1,150	26.93
McAlester	17,783	18,383	3.37
Miami	13,704	13,570	-0.98
Muldrow	3104	3,466	11.66
Muskogee	38,310	39,223	2.38
Nowata	3,971	3,731	-6.04
Okmulgee	13,022	12,321	-5.38
Oologah	na	1,146
Owasso	18,502	28,915	56.28
Pawhuska	3,629	3,584	-1.24
Pawnee	2,230	2,196	-1.52
Pryor Creek	8,659	9,539	10.16
Sallisaw	7,989	8,880	11.15
Sand Springs	17,451	18,906	8.34
Sapulpa	19,166	20,544	7.19
Skiatook	5,396	7,397	37.08
Sperry	981	1,206	22.93
Stillwater	39,065	45,688	16.95
Stilwell	3,276	3,949	20.54
Tahlequah	14,458	15,753	8.96
Tulsa	393,049	391,906	-0.29
Verdigris	na	3,993
Vinita	6,472	5,743	-11.26
Wagoner	7,669	8,323	8.53
Total	836,214	919,423	9.95%

Northeastern Oklahoma

county population changes, 2000-10

County	2000 population	2010 population	Percent change
Adair	21,038	22,683	7.82%
Cherokee	42,521	46,987	10.50%
Craig	14,950	15,029	0.53%
Creek	67,367	69,967	3.86%
Delaware	37,077	41,487	11.89%
Mayes	38,369	41,259	7.53%
McIntosh	19,456	20,252	4.09%
Muskogee	69,451	70,990	2.22%
Nowata	10,569	10,536	-0.31%
Okmulgee	39,685	40,069	0.97%
Osage	44,437	47,472	6.83%
Ottawa	33,194	31,848	-4.05%
Pawnee	16,612	16,577	-0.21%
Payne	68,190	77,350	13.43%
Pittsburg	43,953	45,837	4.29%
Rogers	70,641	86,905	23.02%
Sequoyah	38,972	42,391	8.77%
Tulsa	563,299	603,403	7.12%
Wagoner	57,491	73,085	27.12%
Washington	48,996	50,976	4.04%
Total	1,346,268	1,455,103	8.08%
Tulsa MSA	859,532	937,478	9.1%

Original Print Headline: Disparity in growth may alter districts

Randy Krehbiel 581-8365 Curtis Killman 581-8471
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com curtis.killman@tulsaworld.com

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