Talk:2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts

"Redistricted in"

It doesn't make much sense to describe the renumbering of the districts as incumbent X being "redistricted in" from district Y when most of the population of the district has simply changed number. This is particularly silly in the case of the new 3rd, where the vast majority of the population comes from the old 5th, with the old 3rd becoming the new 2nd. The new 5th is pretty much the old 7th. (And in any case, representatives represent states, not districts; one need not live in the district one runs for election from.) The article should probably just start with a description of the redistricting (without ascribing any motives to the committee). 121a0012 (talk) 02:09, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

• It's useful to refer to the redistricting because a reader might want to know that (for example) Jim McGovern used to be the Rep. for the 3rd but is now the Rep. for the 2nd. These links go to articles about the districts and their long histories. Reps actually do represent a district even though they don't have to live in it: they represent the people who vote for (or against) them.—GoldRingChip 03:47, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

There's nothing about districts in the Constitution; representatives represent their states. The districts are merely a convenience for the administration of the congressional elections, and the numbering is of no practical consequence; the state could renumber all of them from back to front and it would be equally foolish to say that all representatives were running in "different" districts. 121a0012 (talk) 04:16, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Constitutional absence does not connote non-existence. Even if they are "mere convenience," they nevertheless exist and have both practical and symbolic distinctions. The does does, in fact, renumber them from time-to-time, and then the change is noted here in Wikipedia. —GoldRingChip 13:59, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Politics1.com

Some of the candidates listed on this site have not entered the race. This website should not used a source for this article. --Hirolovesswords (talk) 04:04, 8 May 2012 (UTC)