But the reconfiguration of the Massachusetts 9th District has clearly complicated Keating’s reelection prospects.
With the addition of the south coast, the New Bedford-Fall River area is the district’s largest urban center. Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter, a Fall River Democrat, has already declared his intention to run in the Sept. 6 Democratic primary.
Another Democrat, former state senator Robert A. O’Leary of Barnstable, who finished 1,300 votes, or 2 percentage points, behind Keating in the 2010 Democratic race, is considering running again.
Slow population growth forced Massachusetts lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional map, eliminating one of 10 districts. In the process, the Legislature created a minority-majority district centered in Boston and crafted the 9th District to give more clout to a growing region that for decades has been represented in Congress by politicians from Boston or nearby inner suburbs
The new 9th stretches from Marshfield to Provincetown and extends along the south coast to southeast sections of Fall River. Half of that city remains in the 4th District, which is represented by retiring Newton Democrat Barney Frank.
Keating is a longtime Sharon resident, who used his Sharon address during his 22 years as a state legislator and 12 years as Norfolk district attorney. He moved to Quincy two years ago after he launched his bid for Congress. In the latest redistricting, all of Norfolk County has been removed from the 9th District.
While Democrats have held the region’s congressional seats since the 1970s, the Republican Party does have pockets of strength in the area, and party leaders are hoping to mount a credible challenge in the district this year.
“Redistricting delivered some improvements to the district,’’ said state Republican Party spokesman Tim Buckley. “Gridlock in Washington and the lockstep we’ve been seeing in the current delegation from Massachusetts may be wearing on voters.’’
On Jan. 20, Christopher Sheldon, a Plymouth businessman and member of the Plymouth County Charter Study Commission, announced that he plans to seek the GOP nomination for the 9th District seat.
