Legislative leaders released a sweeping redistricting plan this week that will move Martha’s Vineyard to a new congressional district and prompt the Island’s current congressional delegate, Rep. William Keating, to relocate. Changes in the nation’s population according to 2010 census data are forcing Massachusetts to cut the number of districts from 10 to nine.

It says something about the political mood of the moment that during a half-hour interview with the Gazette over coffee last Saturday afternoon, William Keating, candidate for the 10th Congressional district, did not mention once the name of his party.

But while the word Democrat never passed his lips, the word independent popped out frequently.