3-judge panel approves redistricting commission's new Michigan Senate map

A federal three-judge panel approved a new Michigan Senate map Friday after it previously struck down several metro Detroit voting districts as illegal because the state's redistricting commission drew the lines predominantly based on race, the court found.

How many districts changed?

In 2022, a group of metro Detroit voters challenged Michigan's state legislative maps in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

The panel presiding over that case invalidated seven state House districts and six state Senate districts, finding that the mappers drew them based on race in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment. The panel did not rule on allegations leveled by the voters who sued the commission that the maps denied Black voters the opportunity to elect their preferred candidates.

While Michigan's redistricting commission was only ordered to redraw six state Senate districts, it changed eight other metro Detroit districts near the ones invalidated by the panel.

The new map does not put together in the same district any incumbents eligible to seek reelection to the state Senate in 2026.

The court previously approved a new state House map redrawing several Detroit-based state House districts that will be used for the first time in the upcoming Aug. 6 primary.

How did the composition of the districts change?

Here's a look at the new districts and the incumbent lawmakers eligible to seek another term in the 2026 election:

• Senate District 1: Includes part of Detroit, along with Ecorse, Lincoln Park, River Rouge and Wyandotte.
• Senate District 2: Includes parts of Detroit and Taylor, along with Allen Park, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Melvindale.
• Senate District 3: Includes part of Detroit, along with all of Hamtramck and Highland Park.
• Senate District 4: Includes parts of Taylor and Westland, along with all of Belleville, Flat Rock, Gibraltar, Huron Township, Riverview, Rockwood, Romulus, Southgate, Sumpter Township, Trenton, Van Buren Township, Wayne and Woodhaven. State Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, lives in this district.
• Senate District 5: Includes part of Westland and all of Canton, Garden City, Inkster, Plymouth and Plymouth Township.
• Senate District 6: Includes part of Detroit and all of Redford Township. State Sen. Mary Cavanagh, D-Redford Township, lives in this district.
• Senate District 7: Includes part of Waterford Township and all of Auburn Hills, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Lake Angelus, Lathrup Village, Pontiac, Southfield and Southfield Township.
• Senate District 8: Includes most of Novi, along with all of Farmington, Farmington Hills, Livonia, Northville and Northville Township. State Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, lives in this district.
• Senate District 9: Includes parts of Shelby Township and Sterling Heights, along with all of Rochester, Rochester Hills, Troy and Utica. State Sen. Michael Webber, R-Rochester Hills, lives in this district.
• Senate District 10: Includes part of Warren, along with all of Berkley, Center Line, Clawson, Ferndale, Hazel Park, Huntington Woods, Madison Heights, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Royal Oak Township. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, lives in this district.
• Senate District 11: Includes parts of Clinton Township, Sterling Heights and Warren, along with all of Eastpointe, Fraser and Roseville. State Sen. Veronica Klinefelt, D-Eastpointe, lives in this district.
• Senate District 13: Includes parts of Novi and Waterford Township, along with all of Commerce Township, Keego Harbor, Lyon Township, Milford Township, Orchard Lake Village, South Lyon, Sylvan Lake, Walled Lake, West Bloomfield Township and Wixom. State Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-West Bloomfield, lives in this district.
• Senate District 23: Includes part of Waterford Township, along with all of Addison Township, Almont Township, Atlas Township, Clarkston, Brandon Township, Dryden Township, Hadley Township, Highland Township, Independence Township, Metamora Township, Oakland Township, Orion Township, Oxford Township and Rose Township.
• Senate District 24: Includes parts of Clinton and Shelby townships, along with all of Bruce Township, Macomb Township, Ray Township and Washington Township.

The state Senate map approved by the court creates two new majority-Black districts where none existed in the old map. One — District 3 — includes Detroit's east side, along with Hamtramck and Highland Park. The other — District 6 — includes west side Detroit neighborhoods and Redford Township.

Michigan Redistricting: Redistricting commission picks new state Senate map for court review

Is the new Michigan Senate map fair?

Michigan voters in 2018 changed the process for drawing congressional and state legislative districts after politicians held the pen and drew some of the most politically skewed maps in the country, according to national redistricting experts.

Under the new system, the group of randomly selected voters in Michigan chosen to serve on the state's redistricting commission must draw fair lines that don't provide a disproportionate advantage to one political party.

The new map approved by the court has a slightly stronger bias in favor of Republicans, according to two of the measures of partisan fairness the commission used to evaluate its maps. But another measure shows a small bump in favor of Democrats under the new map.

In 2022 — the first election held under maps drawn by the commission — Democrats won a majority for the first time in 40 years.

Free Press apprentice Jaxson Kaplan-Rudolph contributed to this report . Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen .

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 3-judge panel approves redistricting commission's new Michigan Senate map