I was so excited when I got online today and saw Dave had uploaded a map for Maryland (I was also pleasantly surprised to see he used voting districts instead of census tracts, since I think Maryland lawmakers use those when making maps). I just had to take the time to redistrict my home state today; I’ve always wanted to since I hate the current map with a passion – it’s gerrymandered beyond what’s necessary and it wastes a lot of Democratic voters in Montgomery County, Howard County, and Western Maryland.
My goal in this was to create a 7-1 split. I know people have drawn maps that are 8-0, but I really didn’t want this to be too gerrymandered (and I didn’t want to endanger any incumbents in the event of a “wave” year. Plus, I know this probably doesn’t matter to anyone else, but I like being able to look at a congressional map from a distance and easily see what is where, which is something you can’t do at all with current districts 2 and 3. So without further ado here’s what I came up with:
District 1 – Frank Kratovil (D) (blue)
This district keeps the Eastern Shore (minus part of Cecil County, which isn’t really on the Eastern Shore). The district also loses Bel Air and all the crazy conservative parts of Anne Arundel County. In their place, the district gets the most Democratic parts of Harford County from District 2, Annapolis and it’s suburbs from District 3, and parts of Prince George’s County from District 5. Only 55% of the district is actually on the shore, the other 45% is heavily-Democratic central MD, so should be safe for Kratovil (Obama probably won 53-47 here). District is 69% White, 23% black, 3% hispanic.
District 2 – John Sarbanes (I guess) (D) (green)
One of my goals was to untangle 2 and 3, since they were just too crazy. I knew someone would end up not living in their district, and it ended up being Sarbanes. This district uses Howard County as a base, and takes in the most Democratic parts of West and North Anne Arundel County along with parts of Montgomery County. This district probably will have an identity crisis since it is located kinda equidistant from Baltimore and DC. Obama probably got 65%-70% here, so it should be safe for any Democrat. Stats: Only 56% white!, 20% black, 11% Asian, 9% Hispanic.
District 3 – Elijah Cummings (D) (purple)
Baltimore gets a nice, compact district (yay!). I took out Howard County and gave Cummings Republican areas in North Anne Arundel and East Baltimore County (Idk if I’d call the Baltimore County parts Republican, they’re mostly just blue-collar racists, but regardless, nobody has to deal with them now). Obama probably got about 65-75% here. Stats: 43% white, 50% black, 2% hispanic, 2% Asian.
District 4 – Donna Edwards (D) (red)
Straightens up it’s Prince George’s County portion, and adds heavily Republican areas of Anne Arundel County so that nobody has to deal with them. Obama probably got 65-75% here. 31% white, 50% black, 4% Asian, 12% hispanic.
District 5 – Steny Hoyer (D) (yellow)
Keeps all of Southern Maryland and South Anne Arundel, changes course through PG to take in part of Montgomery so that Kratovil can have part of PG. Hoyer might not live in here, but we can redraw the lines if he has a fit. Obama probably got 65-75% here. Stats: only 47% white!, 36% black, 4% Asian, 9% hispanic.
District 6 – Roscoe Bartlett (R) (teal)
Takes away Democratic parts of Frederick and Hagerstown, adds Bel Air and north Cecil County. McCain probably got about 75% here (I wouldn’t be surprised). Stats: 91% white, 3% black, 1% Asian, 1% hispanic.
District 7 – Dutch Ruppersberger (D) (gray)
This district is kinda cool because it sorta follows the Beltway around Baltimore while taking in the Northwest part of the City. Much less gerrymandered than before. Obama got 57% in Baltimore county, and this district excludes the most Republican parts while taking in part of the City, so Obama probably got 65% here. Stats: 56% white, 34% black, 4% Asian, 3% Hispanic.
District 8 – Chris Van Hollen (D) (purplish-blue)
Most of Montgomery County, with the most Democratic parts of Frederick and Washington Counties, not much needs to be said. Obama probably got 75% here. Stats: 66% white, 10% black, 11% Asian, 9% Hispanic.
So there you have it. I’m thinking I’ll do a state legislature map for Maryland next. Let me know what you all think.
Than you state. I mean his district is only around 30 percent black and Obama did as well as you state he did on the low end of your scale (65 percent). I really think he could stand to have a less safe district with Kratovil picking up some Democratic areas and also making Donna Edwards’ district more black (50 percent black is pretty low but perhaps acceptable to her and the CBC in MD).
for reelection against Andy Harris, there is the possibility for Harris to be elected in 2010.
In the circumstance that Harris wins in 2010, does this map get rid of him in 2012?
It’s hard to do without precinct-level results for some of the Republican counties like Anne Arundel. I find it amusing that we can make maps that are both more and less gerrymandered than the current map. I didn’t take into account where any of the Reps live, so I don’t know if any of them are actually in their districts.
You can’t tell from the messed-up converted map, but Kratovil’s district takes in most of Anne Arundel. The purple and yellow districts are majority-minority. The gray, red, and teal districts are 56-59% white. The blue and green ones are 70-71% white.
I’m a big fan of your map. I would point out, though, that Donna Edwards lives in Fort Washington, in your MD-05, while Steny Hoyer lives in Mitchellville, in your MD-04.
and made the district conservative enough for him to win it.
but before Dave’s application became available. I’m currently working on a revised version that is much more compact than my older one. I tried working with Dave’s application, but I think I’m not doing something right:
When the districts are adjusted for population (to reflect new pop. stats) each district seems to go up by the same amount of pop. for me (up to 704,000 each). But, obviously, each district hasn’t gone up the same amount. Best example is MD-7 which according to all the pop. estimates I have for 2009 has gone up the least.
What I am doing wrong … thanks so much for anyone who can help me !