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GOP Oregon legislators return to Salem for redistricting By Sara Cline, Associated Press Updated: Sep 27, 2021 01:52 PM A A State capitol.JPG PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Despite a threat to block new political maps Republican state lawmakers returned to the Oregon Capitol on Monday — the final day for the Legislature to complete redistricting. Enough GOP lawmakers returned to the House floor to achieve a quorum required to vote. With the Republican reverse, it is likely Democrats will pass new district maps — including a sixth, U.S. House seat. Congressional plans were sent to the redistricting committee on Monday morning to be formally adopted and the House is scheduled to reconvene at 1 p.m. Though Oregon Democrats hold the majority in both legislative chambers, they don’t have enough seats to vote without a few Republicans present. As the House convened Monday morning, 47 of 60 House members were present — 40 lawmakers are needed to meet quorum. The Oregon Legislature has until the end of the day on Monday to participate in the once-a-decade job of redrawing the state’s congressional and legislative districts in accordance with new U.S. Census numbers. If lawmakers miss the deadline, the job of redrawing congressional maps will fall to a panel of five current and former judges appointed by the Oregon Supreme Court, and Democratic Secretary of State Shemia Fagan will be tasked with redrawing the state’s legislative districts. On Saturday, Republicans in the Oregon House failed to show up for a floor session, upset that Democratic House Speaker Tina Kotek earlier this week rescinded a deal she made with them to split power in the redistricting debate, even though Democrats have large majorities in the Senate and House. In addition, on Saturday, Kotek unveiled a new proposed congressional map that some hoped would bring House Republicans back to the bargaining table. That proposal put the newest congressional district south of Portland and mostly east of Interstate 5, same as in a previous plan. But it makes several changes to the proposed borders of the other congressional districts, including keeping Portland and Bend in separate districts instead of combining them. Currently the Democrats have a four to one advantage among the state’s U.S. House members. The new proposal made one congressional district slightly more of a toss-up, but some in the GOP feared it would still most likely give Democrats a five to one advantage in the U.S. House. Cline is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.