by Frank Schroth
For better or worse, Milton has a new distinction: it is one of a handful of towns in the Commonwealth that is in two congressional districts. According to the new congressional map released by legislative leaders and now in a comment phase, residents west of Blue Hill Parkway and Harland Street will be in the 7th Congressional District. Those east of Blue Hill Parkway and Harland will be in the 8th. So who’s your congressman?
If you are in the 7th district it is Michael Capuano. His district, which previously was the 8th, is largely intact and now includes Randolph, Everett, and part of Milton and is a majority minority district (i.e. minorties make up majority of the population in that district). This morning the Herald reported that Bill Keating will be moving to his cape house and run in the new 9th district rather that face off against Stephen Lynch. Lynch is assured of retaining the new8th which contains his strong Southie base of support. (see the full Hearld article here. This is all due to state losing a district as a result of recent census numbers. The state is going from 10 to 9.
Here are some related links:
MAPS
- Map of new congressional districts
- Milton’s map of precincts from Town Clerk’s office
- Map of new 7th Congressional District with Milton precinct lines
NEWS COVERAGE
- Mass. Proposes New Congressional District Map – WBUR
- Keating loses Quincy, upper South Shore in redistricting – Wicked Local Milton
- New districts make sense – Boston.com
- Redistricting throws U.S. Reps. Keating, Lynch into likely Faceoff – Boston Herald
Here is a Google result of additional coverage.