UPDATED: Sen. Colbeck Calls Redistricting Fair, Critics Disagree

If a GOP plan to is approved, Sen. Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton) could be be looking at a very different 7th district than the one to which he was elected.

As the quick-moving GOP plan continues gaining momentum in the Michigan legislature, Colbeck applauds his Republican colleagues.

"I was very hands off on it," Colbeck said of the Senate map. "I trused the people that were working on it. Everything I've seen on it has been very fair."

Critics have said that Republicans' redrawing of the boundaries have unfairly given them the political upper hand. Colbeck said critics do not take into consideration that some Rebublicans will also be impacted by the proposed change.

Colbeck's own district currently serves part of the cities of Northville (partial), Plymouth, Belleville, Flat Rock, Gibraltar, Rockwood, Trenton and Woodhaven and the townships of Northville, Plymouth, Canton, Brownstown, Flat Rock, , Grosse Ile, Huron, Sumpter and Van Buren. 

The new map would drop most of the southern half of his district, leaving him accountable to voted in the cities of Plymouth, Northville, Wayne, and Livonia and townships of Northville, Plymouth and Canton. The freshman senator said he's already familiar with Livonia and Wayne.

"I grew up in Livonia and I have a lot of good friends that live in Wayne already," he said."I don't know if it was planned that way or not but I’m pretty comfortable with both those areas."

Bradley Flynn, political director of the Plymouth Democratic Club, said Colbeck's ties to the new district will likely give him an edge in coming elections.

"This is the essence of gerrymandering, to favor one party over another," he said. "If you have an area in which you grew up and in which your parents live and all of a sudden these people get to vote for you ... it's unfair."

The degree to which the redrawing of Colbeck's district will affect a Democratic candidate is unclear now. But, Flynn said, it may mean "Democrats will have to work harder."