Did this map assuming that the Mass redistricting cmte decides to get rid of Olver, or gently force him into retirement. Mass is hard to draw because Keating lives in Quincy, which means that no matter what SE Mass looks ugly. If O’Leary had won that primary, map could be a lot cleaner. The only way to clean SE mass would be to toss Keating and Lynch into a primary, which then creates an open seat in Barnstable (and wouldnt solve the seat elimination problem)
The map eliminates a district by parcelling out Olver’s district between McGovern, Neal and Tsongas. No PVI’s available, but lets assume they are all safe D. Let me know if they are otherwise (Tsongas’ district might be close to a tossup, not sure.)
Also tried to not split counties, towns etc.
Out west, CD 1 (Blue) has Springfield, Amherst (olvers home) and the Mountain towns. NEAL
CD 2 (Green) takes in most of Worcester County, Franklin County and a little of Berkshire County. McGOVERN.
CD 3 (purple) takes in Fitchburg from Olver, Lowell and most of N Middlesex county. Loses Lawrence and Metheun to Tierney. TSONGAS
CD 4 (red) takes in almost all of Essex county. Just about contiguous with county lines. TIERNEY
CD 5 (yellow) takes in Medford/Malden area, goes around to Waltham, Watertown, Framingham. MARKEY
CD 6 (dark green) takes in Somerville, Cambridge and 3/4 of Boston. It is exactly 50 % white. CAPUANO
CD 7 (crimson) takes in some of Boston (loses a little bit of that base to Capuano), Norwood, Taunton and Brockton. The non-Boston area stays pretty similar to current district. LYNCH
CD 8 (grey) takes in Franks home base in Needham/Newton/Brookline area, and sweeps down to take Fall River (from McGovern) and New Bedford (which he currently represents). FRANKS
CD 9 (light blue) takes in Barnstable county, the eastern half of plymouth county (Plymouth and Weymouth) and snakes up into Quincy, where Keating lives. KEATING
Every other Olver/Neal mashup map I’ve seen endangers McGovern by stripping him of Fall River and giving him a district that is more or less coterminous with Worcester County (55.6% Obama) and eastern Hampden County, which is a tossup region. This map keeps him safe by giving him enough of the West to counter balance the tough new towns in southern Worcester, but not so much that he’s vulnerable to a primary from someone from Greenfield or North Adams.
Tsongas is a little weaker (Lawrence is 80/20 Dem and she loses it here) but everyone else has a pretty similar district to what they have now. I would recommend that you rework Boston to give the southeastern strip of the city to Lynch (his home base in Southie and Dorchester) and the southwest to Capuano. Depending on how much of Boston is in the crimson district, that could be vulnerable in a special election but probably not in a general.
Putting liberal parts of western Mass. in a district represented by McGovern is an unusual and clever idea, since he’s one of the most liberal members of the delegation. I wonder if even more areas in the Pioneer Valley could be shifted into that district, giving Neal some more of southern Worcester County as his current district has.
1) Why force Olver into retirement? This ignores A) That he is one of the more powerful/senior members of the delegation; B) His former aid, State Sen. Rosenberg, is one of the lead map makers.
2)The city of Worcester in a district that stretches all the way to the NY border?
3) You split the town of Andover and the city of Methuen between Tierney and Tsongas’ two districts?
as you make it sound. It looks pretty good. Do note that district numeration in Massachusetts is done from east to west, w/district one being the farthest east etc.
Most of those counties are non-governmental, so other than historic designations and some judicial jurisdictions, they do not exist.
More important is to keep cultural areas intact. For example, you split the Merrimack Valley, which was previously predominantly in the 5th. No one cares about the Essex County line. Franklin county is much more strongly associated with The rest of the Connecticut river valley and Western Mass, so while pairing it with Worcester might be a good Gerrymander, it does not make sense from a community of interest perspective.
why Capuano’s district is so packed with Democrats? Why not share the wealth? Frank’s and Keating’s districts are already ugly spaghetti strands, why not add Cambridge to a district like Frank’s? I know all these survived 2010, but I think we should get rid of Capuano’s district, especially if he runs against Brown.