The Lake Champlain Islands’ two state representatives said they likely wouldn’t support a recent redistricting proposal that would split their current district — which also includes part of Milton — into two single-member districts.
Rep. Leland Morgan, R-Grand Isle-Chittenden, said the potential change could pit him against his nephew and neighbor, Rep. Michael Morgan, in a race for the same seat.
“I’m hoping it stays the same as it is,” Leland Morgan said.
The existing Grand Isle-Chittenden district in the Vermont House of Representatives is made up mostly of the five Champlain Islands towns: South Hero, Grand Isle, North Hero, Isle La Motte and Alburgh. In 2002, the legislative area was redistricted to include a section of western Milton, where both Morgans reside.
Photo by Courtney Lamdin/Milton Independent
Leland Morgan was elected to one of the district’s seats in 2018, and Michael Morgan, who also is a Republican, narrowly beat out then-Speaker of the House Mitzi Johnson for the other seat last fall.
But as Vermont prepares to divvy up its 150 House seats in line with data from the 2020 U.S. Census, a special panel advising state lawmakers has — and not for the first time — proposed the wholesale elimination of multimember districts.
Under the panel’s draft map, the current Grand Isle-Chittenden district’s roughly 8,300 residents would be split by a boundary stretching across the town of Grand Isle.
The southernmost of the two proposed districts would have about 4,600 people and include west Milton, South Hero and some of Grand Isle. The other would have about 4,200 people across some of Grand Isle plus North Hero, Isle La Motte and Alburgh.
Milton would be redistricted to include some or all of four different districts, twice as many as it has now. Michael Morgan, who’s also on the town’s selectboard and Board of Civil Authority, said he doesn’t think Milton officials would support the new districts.
Leland Morgan said it would create more work for town clerks come election time.
“They’d have to have a number of different spots for these various districts to vote within a town,” the representative said. “I think it would be confusing for a lot of the voters.”
In the town of Grand Isle, officials are strongly opposed to how the proposed map splits the town into two districts, said Jeff Parizo, the Grand Isle Selectboard chair. He said residents at two Board of Civil Authority meetings on the topic also were not in favor.
“We understand bigger municipalities get split up,” Parizo said. “But we’re not one of those bigger municipalities. We’re a small, little town.”
Grand Isle has about 2,100 residents.
Andy Julow, executive director of the Lake Champlain Islands Economic Development Corp., said he thinks having representatives who advocate for Islanders’ economic interests is more important than the number of districts within the county.
Julow also ran for a Grand Isle-Chittenden seat in the 2020 election, but came in fourth. He said he doesn’t think he’ll run next year, regardless of how redistricting plays out.
“It will still be two representatives that are down in Montpelier,” Julow said. “It’s most important that they just push the issues that are important to Grand Isle County.”
Michael Morgan noted the redistricting process is still in its early stages. Local boards of civil authority are now meeting to provide feedback on the draft map, which the state panel must review before passing its final recommendations on to the Legislature.
“I think you could see a lot change between now and when people go to the polls in a year from now,” Michael Morgan said.
