Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, is changing his address to the state capital. The move will set up a Democratic primary between Boswell and State Sen. Matt McCoy of Des Moines.

Boswell currently represents the state’s 3rd district. Due to the state legislature’s redistricting earlier this month, Boswell has decided to run for a U.S. Representative position in 2002 for Iowa’s new 3rd district, which will no longer include Ames.

Story County will become part of the central 4th District.

Sheila Riggs, executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party, said Boswell will continue the fight no matter the district.

“Rep. Leonard Boswell has been a strong fighter for education excellence in Iowa, helping farmers and working on the prescription drug issues for seniors and he will continue to be a strong voice on those issues,” she said.

Riggs said the newly created primary between McCoy and Boswell is something they try to avoid if possible.

“We always look for ways to avoid divisive primaries,” she said.

She said whoever wins the Democratic nomination should have a good chance in the election.

“The demographic of the new 3rd district is very in sync with democratic voting patterns,” Riggs said.

McCoy and Boswell were both unavailable for comment on the 2002 race.

Marlys Popma, executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa, said the news of Boswell’s move surprised her.

“I am frankly shocked that he did not move to the 2nd district. I am very comfortable with the Republican’s candidates in the 3rd district, and they are going to fit the 3rd district better,” she said.

Popma said she had no preference as to which Republican candidates would run against McCoy or Boswell.

“They both have a record and both have served; running against someone with a voting history is easier than running against someone without, whether it is McCoy or Boswell,” she said.

The two leading candidates in the 3rd district for the House seat are State Auditor Dick Johnson and local lawyer Stan Thompson, she said.

“Whoever comes out of the [Republican] primary will wage a good battle against the winner of the Democratic primary, if McCoy still runs for the seat,” Popma said.

Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science, said the redistricting tries to make it fair with an equal number of people in each district.

He said the majority party does not have an overwhelming advantage in the redistricting process.

“The way redistricting works is the majority party in the legislature has a slight advantage, but to be honest there are now bipartisan committees, and the Iowa governor, being a Democrat, does not give the majority party an advantage,” he said.

Schmidt said the change in the districts depends on the times and how people are moving throughout the country.

“The changes depend on how much people move so sometimes it is very drastic,” he said.

Part of the reason this redistricting is receiving so much attention is that the shape of some of the districts are “weird,” Schmidt said.

He said examples of weird districts are the 5th district, which is western Iowa, and some of the middle districts, which split Des Moines with some of its suburbs.

“There are probably years where this type of change does not always happen,” Schmidt said.

He said it is has just turned out Boswell’s district was split apart and he will move to Des Moines, but he does not see it as having a major effect on the House and Senate elections.

“Incumbents usually win because they have name recognition and money saved up for their campaigns,” he said.

Schmidt said Boswell has served before and unless there is a “dynamic” candidate running against him, he should turn out to be the victor.

“Although part of the district is new, part of the district is the same, so I do not see any monumental changes because of the new districts, but Boswell will have to do more work identifying his supports,” he said.

The new 3rd district is made of seven counties Boswell currently represents, along with five new counties.

His biggest change will be going from mostly rural district to one that includes Polk County and the city of Des Moines.

Jessica VandenBerg, communication director for Boswell, said the Congressman chose the 3rd district because that is where he has the highest number of his current constituents.

“Boswell’s district split into four different ways, which makes it difficult to decide which way to go since his constituents are in different districts,” she said.

Boswell said in a statement he regrets losing members of his district after the redistricting process.

“I regret losing any of the counties I built such a strong relationship with over the years and I assure the people in those counties I will always consider them my constituents and my door is always open to them,” he said in the statement.