Here is another Democratic gerrymander. I chose Minnesota because the majority of the poll voters picked it. For those of you who voted for Georgia, that is my next state. For Minnesota, a gerrymander like this is possible but it could be a long shot. This would only happen if the Democrats retain the State Legislature and capture the Governorship. I drew this map assuming that Minnesota would lose one electoral vote. I probably was able to create a 6-1 Democratic map even though there is a chance it might be a 5-2 Democratic map. My main objectives were to keep all Democrats safe while weakening Republican Erik Paulsen of the 3rd district and combining Republicans John Kline and Michelle Bachman. They are both so Conservative so at least we can knock away one of them. The pink lines are the boundaries of the old districts. Here is the link to my maps http://frogandturtle.blogspot.com
District 1 Tim Walz (D) Blue
Even though I would have loved to strengthen Walz but I could do that because I needed enough Democratic counties to protect Collin Peterson (D) in the 6th district. Anyway, this district is pretty much the same as it is except I took in Democratic leaning Rice and Lincoln Counties as well Le Suer and part of Goodhue County. Le Suer and Goodhue are both marginal. I probably raised the Obama performance in the district by just a bit. I estimate that Obama won 52% to 53% of the vote here. The racial stats are 91% White. Status is Likely Democrat.
District 2 John Kline (R) vs. Michelle Bachman (R) Green
I have heard some talk from Republicans about combining Minneapolis and St. Paul into one district. I bet they did not consider that the Democrats could combine most of the Republican suburban areas into one district. I strengthened the 2nd district’s Republican performance by adding more Republican territory near St. Cloud and removing Rice County. McCain probably won only 55% of the vote here so a strong Democrat could possibly make it competitive. Michelle Bachman’s home Stillwater is in the district. The 2nd district contains part of her old 6th so she will probably choose to run here. John Kline is more entrenched so he will probably win, forcing Michelle Bachman to finally get out of Congress. Racial stats are 90% White. Status is Safe Republican if Kline wins, Likely Republican if Bachman wins.
District 3 Erik Paulsen (R) Purple
I know one thing about this district; Paulsen is in for a tough race with this district. He was elected in 2008 so he had almost no time to become entrenched into his district. To weaken him, I removed part of western Hennepin County, put in the most urban parts of Washington County and added some heavily Democratic areas in Minneapolis. Paulsen won by eight points in 2008 against Ashwin Maida, an impressive candidate. This definitely drops the chances of clearly knocking off Paulsen but with some new territory, it should be much easier. Obama won 56%-57% of the vote here. Racial stats are 8% African American, 6% Asian and 81% White. Status is Toss Up/Tilt Democratic.
District 4 Betty McCollum (D) Red
Her district looks very different from the one she has now. I had to unfortunately extend it out into the Republican suburbs because of population loss and the elimination of Michelle Bachman’s district. Her district extends all the way out to St. Cloud now. Ramsey County gave Obama a margin of 96,000 votes and the part McCollum has Obama probably pulled out a 75,000 vote margin there. The suburban part of the district probably gave McCain a 15,000 vote margin. A 60,000 Obama margin should be enough to protect McCollum. If Bachman decided to run here, she would probably not win. Obama probably won 59% of the vote here. The racial stats are 6% African American, 6% Asian, 6% Hispanic and 79% White. Status is Safe Democrat.
District 5 Keith Ellison (D) Yellow
Even though I slipped in part of the old 3rd district, Keith Ellison should have no worries. Minneapolis will keep him safe and sound. Obama probably won here with 68%-72% of the vote. Racial stats are 10% African American, 8% Hispanic, 5% Asian and 73% White. Status is Safe Democrat.
District 6 Collin Peterson (D) Teal
Even though I have tried to strengthen every Democrat here, I had to weaken Peterson a bit. I took away a few northern Counties that lean Democratic and added some of Stearns and Sherburne Counties which lean Republican. I may have compensated for those counties by adding a touch of Minneapolis. Weakening Peterson should not hurt him much. He is a moderate Democrat who is the chairman of the Agriculture Committee and has been representing the 7th district since 1991. He should be safe even though McCain probably won 51% of the vote here. Racial stats are 90% White. Status is Safe Democrat.
District 7 James Oberstar (D) Gray
This district has slow population growth so I had to extend it to the North Dakota border. The counties there lean Democratic so the new additions do not alter the 7th district’s political leanings much. It would not matter how many Republicans are here because Oberstar has represented this district since the 1970’s. He creamed former Senator Rod Grams when he ran for House in 2006. No question about it, Oberstar is safe. Obama probably received 56% of the vote here. Racial stats are 93% White. Status is Safe Democrat.
That’s pretty much the only way to describe this map.
or some abbreviation that means print screen.
It copies a picture of your entire screen that you can later paste into paint and save as a picture file. It’s much better than taking a photo of your monitor with a camera. I don’t mean any offense. I’m just saying, doing this will really improve the quality of your diaries.
To spread the Oberstar district across the entire northern part of the state.
The yellow district is a Republican district, but if it’s Peterson vs Bachman then I think Peterson would win it.
Although a few tweaks, lose Lake Elmo and parts of Woodbury in Washington County to take in Cottage Grove in Washington County and you could touch point to add in Hastings from Dakota County, so you CD2 can still snake around to take in some Washington County townships. Both Hastings and Cottage Grove are bluer than Lake Elmo and Woodbury. Although, you have CD2 snake all the way up to Stillwater in Washington County, which is also bluer than Woodbury and Lake Elmo so I’d definitely put Stillwater somewhere else as well. Same with Red Wing down in Goodhue County, that city is BLUE BLUE BLUE and should be in Walz’s district to shore him up so I’d trade that with some townships from CD1. But great basis for keeping CD3 all suburban but still making it bluer, there is just a little more tweaking that could occur to make it perfect and the most blue possible. This is something Id love to try and redo for my own 7 seat map. I made CD3 half Minneapolis but keeping it all suburban and just shifting which ones it takes in could be very similar to a Philly suburban district.
I wont start on CD6 as I heavily criticize everyone who tries to fuck with the two northern Greater Minnesota districts. Just leave them alone and expand them south, one will stay safe Dem and one will stay a swing district. Everyone seems to shore one up at the expense of the other and it’s all so needless, that Iron Range district is 100% safe but could become swing if you lessen its Dem margin by even like 5% as the exurbs will get more of a deciding factor. There is no need to shore it up, just a need to make sure it’s still dominated by the Iron Range/Duluth as then the DFL can nominate an Iron Ranger and pretty much dominate in this district. And we cant ask for much else with Peterson’s district, I still think we have an excellent shot at keeping it if he retires, the rural counties of MN are where Obama KILLED percentage wise compared to Kerry so who knows. I should also look up how many state house and senate seats we’ve gained here since 2004 as the DFL has gained like 40 house seats since then.
Although Id love to see how your CD6 voted, it does a lot of weird snaking into the cities and exurbs and I wonder how everything cancels each other out. You put St. Cloud in CD6 right? That’s a 2000 vote margin for Obama, the exurbs certainly cancel that out and then add in some GOP margin, but then you include the immediate north burbs of Minneapolis which are easily 2-to-1 for Obama, if not more. Peterson’s district currently includes some HEAVILY GOP areas of Stearns county so you probably did better than you think if it were all totaled up. Or you are exactly right, heh.
Alot of you (you know who you are) suggested I use different methods to post the maps and said I will not listen. After hearing you, I will finally take some of your suggestions.