Arkansas | May 3, 2021
3rd Congressional District set to shrink, census number indicate
Arkansas | May 3, 2021
Northwest Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District stands to lose about 76,000 constituents when the Legislature redraws the borders later this year, the most recent available estimates indicate.
The need to reduce the 3rd District surprises no one, U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, a Republican from Rogers, said Thursday. Northwest Arkansas’ growth during the past 10 years is an obvious fact and will continue, he said.
“Everybody saw it coming,” Womack said of the need to shrink the district’s boundaries. “I’ve had constituents in Marion, Pope and even Boone counties tell me they’d really like to stay, but they can see what’s happening.”
Harrison is the Boone County seat. Yellville is county seat for Marion County and Russellville for Pope County.
Those three counties are on the eastern side of the district. It is possible the district could lose territory on the southern side instead, where Fort Smith is, but any sizable reduction has to come from one of those two directions, Womack said.
That is where the people live who aren’t in the Washington-Benton county core, he said.
“Benton and Washington counties are going to be their own congressional district someday,” he said.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday the official population count of each state and the number of House seats each state is entitled to for the next 10 years. The U.S. Constitution requires a census every 10 years. Seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are allocated based upon the population count in each state…
(Excerpts from Arkansas Democrat Gazette)