With the publication of this diary, the DK Elections sidebar will be completely made up of Maryland maps (sorry to bump off your diary, KingofSpades--it was great!). Hopefully making everyone sick of Maryland redistricting will force those bastards in Annapolis to just hurry up and get it over already. Anyway, this map is a response to feedback that a map drawing MD-01 into PGCo would have trouble passing. So here is a map that makes MD-01 winnable for us while also giving us 7 safe seats.
Advantages:
*If the right-wing nutjobs are right and gay marriage is a slippery slope to people marrying inanimate objects, Chris Van Hollen will probably want to marry this map. He keeps a ridiculously Democratic district which adds some red territory but retains the overwhelming majority of his current district.
*Bartlett is given a Safe D district and all other incumbents are kept safe as well.
*Edwards' district is made as white as possible while staying majority-black, and runs through MontCo (which, given that she won her primary through support in white MontCo precincts, should please her)
*MD-01 is made more winnable for us while not running into Baltimore or PGCo.
Disadvantages:
*If Republicans can replace Andy Harris with someone less offensive to Wayne Gilchrest, they'll probably hold MD-01 just fine.
*Sarbanes and Ruppersberger are weakened ever-so-slightly, which might make them unhappy.
*Hoyer's district is plenty blue but still drops a few points and he loses College Park, so he might be unhappy.
*Both VRA districts are barely majority-black and take on lots of new territory, though Cummings might be ok with this.
Anyway...maps!
MD-01
Incumbent: OPEN
Old Vote: Obama 40 McCain 58
New Vote: Obama 44 McCain 54
Average: Dem 47 Rep 53
Description: This district grabs all of the Eastern Shore and crosses the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, but rather than going to PGCo, it makes up all of its population from Anne Arundel, and grabs deep-blue Fort Meade. This makes the district blue enough that Andy Harris will have to sweat, though a sane Republican might be able to hold this one easily. However, it's worth noting that this district drops a lot of straight-ticket Republican voters from BaltCo and Harford, and its 2006-2008 average is only 53-47 Republican (compared to about 58-42 or 57-43 for the current MD-01).
MD-02
Incumbent: Andy Harris (R-Cockeysville), Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Cockeysville)
Old Vote: Obama 60 McCain 38
New Vote: Obama 58 McCain 40
Average: Dem 62 Rep 38
Description: This district is probably the weakest link of this map, but I think it's on the outer limit of what Dutch would accept. This district, along with MD-03, is MUCH cleaner in this map than currently, and it contains most of Dutch's territory and should still be safe for him. But I think if there were one practical reason this map couldn't pass, it'd be this district.
MD-03
Incumbent: John Sarbanes (D-Towson)
Old Vote: Obama 59 McCain 39
New Vote: Obama 58 McCain 40
Average: Dem 61 Rep 39
Description: Another district which is slightly weakened due to smoother lines. But I don't think Sarbanes will have a problem in HoCo.
MD-04
Incumbent: Donna Edwards (D-Fort Washington)
Old Vote: Obama 85 McCain 14
New Vote: Obama 74 McCain 25
Average: Dem 72 Rep 28
Description: If Donna is truly is a team player who simply wants to keep a fundraising base in Montgomery County, this district should still please her, even though it contains the panhandle and the northern part of Carroll County (I think the comically dedicated racists are all in the southern part). This district is literally just above majority-black (550,984 adults, 275,682 of whom are black=50.03%) but that should actually please her since she did better in whiter precincts against Al Wynn.
MD-05
Incumbent: Steny Hoyer (D-Mechanicsville)
Old Vote: Obama 65 McCain 33
New Vote: Obama 62 McCain 37
Average: Dem 65 Rep 35
Description: Steny is weakened a bit but still sits pretty in a ~D+10 district. Also his district drops to 33% black from 37% so he should be happy that he is safer from a primary.
MD-06
Incumbent: Roscoe Bartlett (R-Frederick)
Old Vote: Obama 40 McCain 58
New Vote: Obama 63 McCain 35
Average: Dem 62 Rep 38
Description: I could write something of substance here, or I could simply laugh at how screwed Roscoe is. I choose the latter. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
MD-07
Incumbent: Elijah Cummings (D-Baltimore)
Old Vote: Obama 79 McCain 20
New Vote: Obama 65 McCain 33
Average: Dem 63 Rep 37
Description: Unfortunately this district has been diluted down to 50.2% black VAP, but it's not too much worse for Cummings' than under O'Malley's map, and he liked his district there, so...
MD-08
Incumbent: Chris Van Hollen (D-Kensington)
Old Vote: Obama 74 McCain 25
New Vote: Obama 71 McCain 27
Average: Dem 72 Rep 28
Description: This district is designed to make Chris Van Hollen do a happy dance, in hopes that he will use his influence to champion this map. It really can't get much better for him than this in any 7-0-1 or 8-0 map. He does lose a small chunk of Montgomery around Cloverly, and he does gain a little of Frederick and Washington counties, but he retains such a heavily Dem district and keeps so much of his territory (including the exact same bit of PGCo) that there is really no reason for him to complain.