Chris's Redistricting
This is where I will be uploading my versions of fair Congressional maps for every state. This project will be using 2024 Presidential data from Redistricter, and assess what a fair map would look like when considering the 2024 results, geographic restraints, and communities of interest
Arizona
My Arizona map sits at 5R-4D breakdown for 2024, and would have been 5D-4R for 2020, as well as Arizona's concurrent Senate race in 2024. This improves on the current map, where Trump won a disproportionate 6/9 seats. This map gives Democrats a more favorable (but still competitive) seat in Tucson, shores up Rep. Stanton (D) to the east of Phoenix, and makes it so that the Native Americans of the state's north have the ability to elect a candidate of their choice. Whichever party wins the statewide popular vote will in all likelihood win a majority of seats
Georgia
In Georgia, Republicans attempted to solidify their Congressional advantage by cracking Democrats in the northern part of metro Atlanta. This map serves to re-unify them, and give the state an even 7R-7D Congressional breakdown. Notably, this map also does not cut Athens in half out of spite/to ensure that Democrats won win a seat in the east, with the latter option already being unlikely
Iowa
Iowa got a notably Republican-favoring map after the most recent round of redistricting, despite the "nonpartisan" process. My iteration of a Congressional maps creates two narrow Harris-won seats, one around Des Moines, and one along the Mississippi River. Had this map been in place, Iowa likely would have sent an even delegation to Congress
Kansas
The Kansas Corridor between Kansas City and Manhattan was heavily split this recent redistricting cycle. This map keeps it more together, having a compact Kansas City metro seat, and a Corridor/surrounding turf seat. The rural southeast proves to be a barrier to compactness, so parts of Sedgewick County (Witchita) are split to make the far western seat compact
Louisiana
Louisiana will likely be seeing a redraw of their Congressional map this year, and this provides a suitable alternative. Instead of tracing the Red River, my second VRA seat is more compact, containing Baton Rouge and most of Lafayette. The seat is also fairly competitive, sitting around D+5 in 2024. Speaker Johnson's (R) seat in the north becomes much more competitive, but regardless, Republcians aren't likely to lose it (it sits around R+20)
Maryland
Maryland's current map is a soft Democratic gerrymander, fliping the panhandle seat to Democrats, and undully favoring them in Annapolis's seat. This map flips the panhandle seat to Republicans, and makes the Annapolis seat more competitive (but still Democratic-leaning)
Massachusetts
Massachusetts was one state where Trump saw notable gains, especially in southern part of the state. As such, it became viable to draw a narrowly Trump-won seat there. This also serves to make the map much neater across the state
Michigan
Michigan is a state where I hesitate to deviate wildly from the Commission's map but here's my iteration of a Congressional map. The Lansing-based seat becomes *marginally* more Democratic-favoring, Macomb County's district doesn't go into Oakland, and Kalamazoo's extends down Lake Michigan's coast. Geography was not Michigan Democrats' friend this go around, and a Lansing/Kalamazoo seat to even things out would significantly reduce competition
Minnesota
Minnesota currently has a fair map, but it is drawn terribly. My version sees a western Hennepin County district drawn entirely within said county lines (not taking from Anoka), a more compact Rochester seat, and a more logical suburban seat to the south of MSP. Currently, the southern MSP seat takes in Le Seur County, which doesn't make a lot of sense in terms of communities of interest. My iteration takes in all of Dakota and Scott, and parts of Carver and Washington to resolve the issue. A 4D/4R balance is still maintained
Mississippi
Unfortunately for Democrats, Mississippi's Congressional map is one that is drawn fairly when considering the state's geography. My iteration just cleans the map up a bit, only splitting 2 counties. A 2R/2D map can be drawn, but such a map would in no way be compact, and in some cases would clearly divide communities of interest. Future iterations of the Delta/Jackson-centered seat will likely go into De Soto county, as the county is diversifying and increasing in Democratic strength
Montana
Montana's current map and mine don't have many differences. Mine swaps Park County for turf to its west, making the westernmost of the seats around R+10. In a less-Republican year, said district is likely to be competitive
Nebraska
Nebraska has long been deprived of a Democratic-leaning seat in Omaha, and even currently where the seat leans blue on paper, Rep. Bacon (R) has been able to win re-election twice. This map makes it so that Democrats are stronger favorites to win the Omaha seat, while making the other 2 districts more geographically compact
Nevada
Nevada's current Congressional map is one of the most gerrymandered in the nation. The Las Vegas area was split such that Democrats would have an undue advantage in an extra Congressional seat. This map makes it such that, in this frequently 50/50 state, Democrats win half of the seats reliably, and Republicans win half of the seats reliably. The Reno-centered district is also basically unchanged from the current map, as there was little potential for the gerrymandering to teach that far north
New Hampshire
New Hampshire proved to be surprisingly competitive at the Presidential level last November, with Trump keeping his loss to around three points. As such, I attempted to make a district plan where each candidate won a district, and came out with this one with a Harris+9 seat and a Trump+3 seat. However, it is worth noting that New Hampshire Republicans don't have a high-quality bench (with Sununu retired and Ayotte now in the Governor's office), so Rep. Chris Papas (D) would likely hold onto the Trump-won seat
New Mexico
This version of New Mexico is much less favorable to Democrats in the Las Cruces-anchored district, but more favorable in the other two. Post-2020, the map was redrawn to shore up Rep. Vasquez (D) of the Las Cruces seat, but his seat went to Trump in 2024. Given that New Mexico was only narrowly Democratic, having an artificially Democratic-leaning Republican seat would be unfair. This also keeps the Albuquerque area much more compact
New Jersey
New Jersey's closeness was a surprise on election night, and drops Democrats to 7/12 seats. The configuration maintains Black and Hispanic VRA seats in the north, while providing a minority opportunity seat around Trenton. Under this map, Republicans likely would have gained the 2 seats they need to be at parity, even though Biden would have carried 10/12 seats in 2020. Notably, this is a much cleaner map than the one that was enacted post-2020
North Carolina
North Carolina has had so many maps that its hard to keep track of them all. This map fixes almost all of the issues of the current mid-decade re-gerrymander. The Black Belt gets a Democratic-leaning seat, Raleigh's suburbs are better united, and Greensboro and Winston-Salem are recombined
Ohio
My iteration of Ohio gives Democrats two additional seats relative to their current numbers (base partisanship-wise), and makes the map more proportional (9R-5D vs 12R-3D). Democrats gain a seat in Columbus thats trending their way, and a competitive seat with Lorain and part of Cuyahoga County. The Cincinnati seat is much more compact, as well as its dominant suburban seat surrounding it. Kaptur's seat only sits at R+3, so its winnable for either party. Dayton's seat is at R+6, so its also attainable for Democrats in a good year
Oklahoma
Oklahoma's current Congressional layout makes it so that electing a Democrat is impossible, splitting the deep blue of downtown Oklahoma City. This map combines the bluer parts of Oklahoma City and Norman to ensure a Democratic representative, also serving to make a much more geographically-compact map
Oregon
Oregon's current map undully favors Democrats, mainly due to splitting the Portland area. This map minimizes those splits, and grants Republicans a second seat. The splits around Medford and Roseburg aren't the prettiest admittedly, but were done to aid in compactness, and grouping the college towns of Medford and Eugene
South Carolina
Currently, South Carolina has one of the most gerrymandered maps in the nation, giving Congress the likes of transphobic Rep. Nancy Mace (R). A 4R/3D proportional map is not practical without some questionable community of interest and county splits, so 5R/2D was made. A VRA seat is maintained between the Black Belt and Charleston, and a second Democratic seat created between Rock Hill and Colubmbia in the north of the state
Tennessee
Tennessee was one of Trump's strongest states, but Democrats are drawn out of a seat in Nashville that would have without a doubt went for them in 2020 and 2024. This map remedies that, as well as attempts to keep all of the major metro areas more compact
Utah
Utah's current Congressional map splits Salt Lake County four ways, such that electing a Democrat is near impossible. This map makes the region much more compact, and will definitely elect a Democrat to a Salt Lake-centered seat. This also makes much more compact seats across the state, *potentially* a competitive seat between southern Salt Lake and Provo later in the decade, and a quickly left-trending (but not competitive) seat in the north centered around Ogden and Logan
Washington
Washington's current map almost needs no edits. My only major changes were making a more compact Tacoma district, and a more compact district for Seattle's northern suburbs. Republicans are not favored geographically here, but making some less compactness-concerned districts could yield a more proportional 6D-4R map
West Virginia
My West Virginia map is basically unchanged from the current map. Given the requirement that counties aren't split, there are only a certain number of ways to facilitate the redistricting. Democrats have basically no chance at winning either seat, but the northern seat is trending favorably their way (as it contains Morgantown and DC exurbs)
Wisconsin
Wisconsin's geography has been a bane to Democrats since the start of the Trump era. There isn't a good way to give Democrats an even 4/8 seats that isn't horribly uncompact and splits communities. This map enables a north/south divide in the Milwaukee area, creating a competitive Democratic seat while attempting to keep the northern seat minority-influence. The Driftless Area and Fox River seats would also be competitive for Democrats under the right circumstances, but an even split in a good year is probably the best they would be able to attain