Most Gerrymandered District

Get a load of this beaut:

This is one of the iterations that Rep. Cleo Fields‘ district went through during the 1990s. LA-04 was a masterwork of racial gerrymandering, starting off life with a 63% black voting-age population. It was repeatedly struck down by the courts (full story here), which ultimately ordered the creation of a very different-looking 27% black district. After it was renumbered as the 5th CD, Republican John Cooksey won the seat in 1996.

I’m not opining on the merits of gerrymandering here (though I do think some folks make too much of a fetish out of “compactness”). Rather, I’d love to see other examples of excellence in district-drawing. So please post links to your favorite examples of creative (or crazy) gerrymandering. Districts can be federal, state, local, what have you. The only rule is that someone, somewhere has to have implemented or tried to implement `em (so, nothing you’ve created yourself on Dave’s app).

Note: If you post a pic in the comments, please make sure it’s a maximum of 590 pixels wide. Otherwise, the site’s layout will get messed up on many browsers.

Have fun!

(Thanks to Rupper for the LA-04 district map.)

86 thoughts on “Most Gerrymandered District”

  1. I could use that for my redistricting of LA, that way, LA-02 can be turned into a more racially balanced district for a Cao comeback in 2012. The AA’s in Northern LA aren’t as liberal so…  

  2. Photobucket

    and this monstrosity, designed to take up all the Democratic votes in north florida, is not majority minority so it is not protected.

    Besides that some areas of the VRA are obviously outdated. Majority minority are no long neccessary to elect minority representation, its been shown in numerous instances. Race is no longer as big a factor and coalition districts need to be specifically included. Beyond that it shouldn’t always be ilegal to split up minority voters. Because it doesn’t always dilute their voting power; I made five districts that would elect an AA representative area, but i did it by making the all a bare-majority black or plurality black but they would certainly elect black representatives. In its own way packing races into super-majority minority districts is a form of political discrimination because it weakens their political influence.

  3. basically don’t see what this does except combine the all the blue-collar white areas of NYC, something that might be backfiring as that demographic has become significantly more conservative and open to Republicans since 9/11.

    Photobucket

    In fact I don’t see how its continuous.

  4. Districts 2 and 3 are probably the most gerrymandered in the nation outside of South Florida. I like how 3 follows a parkway in the city for a few miles, taking in no residences. Somehow they managed to divided up North AA County so that each section voted for Obama even though it’s full of rednecks. Yeah, it’s that good of a gerrymander.

    The legislative map that Glendenning proposed in 2002 was really crazy, some of the crazy stuff passed, like District 12 and District 38A (gerrymandered to be a majority-black district). Some of the ones rejected by the courts were 44, 46, and 31, which cracked Dundalk to account for decreased Democratic performance there. 44 runs from West Baltimore to Dundalk across the Bay.

    They ended up ruling that none of the districts could cross the city line into the county, which I think is too restrictive since its not like the two don’t have any common interests at all. Hopefully they won’t hold us to that in 2012 (and hopefully O’Malley learned from Glendenning)

  5. Though it doesnt look like an extreme gerrymander on the map, its most definitely the antithesis of a district that is a ‘community of interests’. It includes affluent northern suburbs (including Spring), and two different blue collar areas. The Harris County blue collar area (which includes Baytown and LaPorte) is much more favorable to Republicans than the Beaumont/Port Arthur blue collar area. I spent most of the first 8 years of my life in Baytown (before moving to the Clear Lake area where ive been ever since) so Id probably be in this district had I stayed there. as i was in a ‘white’ part of Baytown and i would think most white Baytown folks are in this district and not Gene Green’s. But even they are blue collar, but the blue collar folks here are much, much more receptive of the GOP than in the Beaumont area. Though you can certainly make the argument that the Beaumont area is, um, not as racially tolerant. Also this district includes alot of rural Liberty and Jefferson County. I know districts should be balanced…but thats not why it was made. the Beaumont/Port Arthur district got all these GOP areas so the TX GOP could redistrict Nick Lampson out.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U

  6. This talk about crazy districts reminded me of a short anecdote by Molly Ivins on redistricting:

    Now on the redistricting map that touched off this mess, I have seen maps that are works of art. I have seen districts that look like giant chickens and districts that look like coiled snakes.

    But this map is a masterpiece, a veritable Dadaist work reminiscent of Salvador Dali’s more lunatic productions. Unfortunately, the D’s may not have much of a legal argument here. True, it has been 50 years since a legislature has overturned a court-ordered redistricting plan: on the other hand, nothing says they can’t. The courts have said gross political gerrymandering is impermissible, but it’s a tough area of law.

    Many years ago, when Delwin Jones was redistricting chairman, an aggrieved member addressed him: “Dell-win, lookahere what you have done to mah district. It’s got a great big ball on the one end, then it runs in a little bitty strip for 300 miles, then there’s a great big ball at the other end. Damn thing looks like a pair of dumbbells. Now, the courts say the districts have to be com-pact and con-tiguous. Is this yer idea of com-pact and con-tiguous?” Delwin pondered deeply before replying, “Wha ell, in a artistic sense, it is.”

    FYI, link to Delwin’s state house page.

  7. District 6 (Ralph Northam – D):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    Majority of it is in Norfolk, but it also includes the Eastern Shore and… Mathews County on the Middle Peninsula? The hell? Probably drawn to give the previous occupant (a Republican) a slightly-better chance of winning.

    District 18 (Louise Lucas – D):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    Sen. Lucas lives in Portsmouth, which is on the eastern edge of the district. And it stretches nearly all the way to Farmville, which is at least 120 miles away. Undoubtedly designed to get as many black voters in the district as possible.

    District 25 (Creigh Deeds – D):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    Yeah, this is Sen. Deeds’ district. Majority of the population is in the Charlottesville area, and he lives on the western end in Bath County.

    District 28 (Richard Stuart – R):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    We nearly won this district in 2007, with Al Pollard from the Northern Neck (southeastern part of the district). Unfortunately for him, the district stretches about 50 or 60 miles up to the NoVa exurbs.

  8. District 12 (Jim Shuler – D):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    Poor Bath County. It’s on the unpopulated edge of the district again.

    District 17 (William Fralin – R):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    Take all the white parts of Roanoke and surrounding areas and make a Republican-leaning district.

    District 31 (Scott Lingamfelter – R):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    District 31 is going to eat you, Prince William Forest Park!

    District 58 (Rob Bell – R):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    New Jersey is recreated around Charlottesville.

    District 62 (Riley Ingram – R):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    Did they use a fractal generator to make this district?

    District 74 (Joe Morrissey – D):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    And here’s Oklahoma after having melted.

    District 76 (Chris Jones – R):

    http://www.vpap.org/elections/

    You can’t even GET to the Chespeake part of the district from the Suffolk part — it’s connected by the Great Dismal Swamp!

  9. Take a look at FL-HD-107.  Map’s a PDF, or I’d include it.  Link below.

    http://myfloridahouse.gov/File

    It covers South Beach, Brickell, Little Havana, Key Biscayne, and parts of Pinecrest and surrounding areas.

    Most of the “surrounding areas,” of course, are water.  You need a boat to travel while staying only within the district.

    FL-11 is similar, but at least there are some connecting roads.

  10. Someone mentioned this upthread, but I don’t think the map has been posted:

    Wikipedia says it’s D+32 and 74.5% Hispanic, in Chicago.

  11. Wikipedia:

    The term gerrymandering is derived from Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), the governor of Massachusetts from 1810 to 1812. It is a portmanteau of Gerry and salamander. In 1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill into law that redistricted his state to benefit his Democratic-Republican party. One of the resulting contorted districts was said to resemble the mythic salamander, a sort of a small dragon.[1] The term first appeared in the Boston Gazette on March 26, 1812 (see image below).

  12. Someone mentioned New York State Senate 51 “Lincoln an a vacuum cleaner” district. But that’s not the best one. Here’s a little tour of some others.

    District 16: A tribute to the lobster fishermen of Long Island?

    http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/

    District 56: Just barely contiguous

    http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/

    District 14: What makes this one continguous? A highway?

    http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/

    District 60: Not even pretending to be contiguous

    http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/

    District 34: Rorschach test. This reminds you of a …?

    http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/

    (And if you want to see Abe on his Electrolux, he’s at http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/

  13. Old NY-18, anyone? Starts out logically enough in Westchester County, crosses into the Bronx, but then starts literally snaking through Queens.

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