2010 Census to Reshape West Virginia's Political Landscape

At least a little, anyway, when the official population figures prompt the Legislature to redraw its own districts and that of the state's U.S. House seats.

The Charleston Daily Mail cites current estimates to report that the growing Eastern Panhandle "could gain two new House of Delegate districts and also will surely elect at least one more senator," likely at the expense of the southern coalfields.

Kanawha County, meanwhile, "will almost certainly lose one of its four members of the state Senate," the article said, and "despite West Virginia's modest population growth since the last census, it likely will continue to send three representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives."

The Legislature's always-helpful Office of Reference and Information also examines the approaching redistricting process.