OLYMPIA, WA – A federal judge is considering whether to toss out Washington’s redrawn legislative district maps, a decision that could impact several state lawmakers and many more candidates for office ahead of this year’s elections.
In a case out of Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme Court last month limited the scope of the Voting Rights Act, constraining the use of race as a factor when drawing congressional maps.
Since that ruling, Washington is among several states scrambling to potentially redraw district maps that have been gerrymandered in recent years.
In Washington, the legal fight centers on U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik’s ruling in 2024 to redraw 13 districts with a goal of strengthening the political voice of Hispanic voters in the Yakima Valley.
When Lasnik redrew those maps, it affected much more than just Yakima Valley. The new maps shifted more than 300,000 people on both sides of the state.
Now, challengers want the maps tossed, arguing they no longer survive constitutional scrutiny after the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 29 ruling.
Jose Trevino and state Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, filed a motion last week asking Judge Lasnik to restore the lines drawn by Washington’s redistricting commission, not the redrawn maps created in 2024.
Meantime, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs is cautioning Lasnik not to intervene.
“This Court should not take any action that would affect the use of the existing legislative district maps for 2026 elections,” wrote Hobbs in court filings. “These maps are currently in use; election officials and hundreds of candidates for the Washington State Legislature have relied on those existing legislative districts.”
“To change them now, on the eve of the primary election, would make it exceedingly difficult—if not impossible—to successfully hold the State’s primary election and would also imperil the general election. At a minimum, such a change would cause significant voter confusion.”
Republican Sen. Nikki Torres from the 15th District, disagrees and hopes Lasnik will restore the old maps.
“I was redistricted out and this has all had a huge impact on my district,” Torres told The Center Square. “Now we’re going to wait and see what happens for us here in Washington state and see if they’re going to go back and follow with the Louisiana case.”
“Every ten years, that’s really what it was supposed to be,” said Torres who lost a legal challenge over the redrawn maps. “So they should be drawn based off census [data]. But unfortunately, that was not the case here in Washington State. And this happened before it happened even in Texas and in California, and that’s all people were aware of. People were not even hearing about what was happening in Washington.”
She rejects Hobbs’s suggestion that going back to the old district maps at this point would create “chaos”
“There would still be enough time for SOS to make changes and mail out ballots by July 16, in time for the primary. The primary does not have to be pushed back,” wrote Torres in a Thursday text message to The Center Square.
“Especially if the ruling is made before the end of the month. It really shouldn’t be that difficult for SOS to revert the maps,” she wrote.
Washington GOP Chair Jim Walsh told The Center Square there could be a ruling from the judge any day, suggesting Hobbs and Attorney General Nick Brown are just “whining” that going back to the old maps would cause chaos.
The intervenors, Trevino and Ybarra, have also petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of Lasnik’s maps. A response to that is due by June 2.
According to the court declaration, Washington’s Elections Director Stuart Holmes said that of the 294 people who filed last week to run for a legislative office across Washington state during filing week, 67 are seeking seats in one of the affected districts.
