AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage on Thursday announced a special session for the Legislature for lawmakers to consider a new congressional redistricting plan. The session will begin Sept. 27.

The congressional redistricting plan is spurred by recent population changes revealed by the U.S. Census. The plan is being drafted by a reapportionment committee composed of state lawmakers and members of the Republican and Democratic parties.

The plan was originally slated to go into effect in 2o13, but a federal judge in June ruled in a lawsuit that the state’s two congressional districts must be changed in time for the 2012 election. 

Democrats are concerned that the reapportionment will affect their hold on U.S. House of Representatives seats in the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts.

U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, has held the 2nd District seat since 2003 and has defeated Republican challengers by significant margins. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, has held the 1st District seat since 2009. Republican James B. Longley was the last Republican to serve in the 1st District.

The Republican-controlled Legislature ultimately will ratify the redistricting plan. That has created some anxiety among Democrats, who earlier this year worried that the GOP would use its power to advance a plan that shifted Pingree’s hometown of North Haven into the 2nd District, which is Michaud’s district.

Redistricting that favors the GOP could also come into play in the 2012 presidential election because Maine splits its two electoral votes.

Republicans have assured Democrats that they will pursue a plan that the majority of both parties can support. The bipartisan commission is made up of seven Republicans, seven Democrats and one independent moderator.

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