Redistricting in CT is all but concluded. Although Democrats control the Governorship and both houses of the state legislature, they cannot draw their own Congressional map without 2/3rds vote margins. Therefore, it went to the state Supreme Court. They appointed a special master to draw the maps. David Nir said that when a similar stalemate happened in 1971, the Supreme Court chose infamous arch-conservative Robert Bork as the special master. Obviously, that is impossible this time as Bork is now 84 and is no longer a resident of the state. The special master they chose insisted he will go with a least-change approach favored by the Democrats (as opposed to the reddening of CT-04 and CT-05 wanted by Republicans). The result was a least-change map that moves as few people as possible.
Since Dave of Dave's Redistricting App uploaded CT partisan numbers, I decided to draw CT-04 and CT-05 bluer so that they will no longer be within reach for Republicans. I did not go crazy here, but it is a gerrymander.
CT-01 (blue): Rep. John Larson (D)
Old Numbers: 66% Obama/33% McCain
New Numbers: 63.4% Obama/35.2%McCain
It loses some blue area (such as West Hartford) and gains a bit of red area, but remains as safe for Larson as ever.
CT-02 (green): Rep. Joe Courtney (D)
Old Numbers: 59% Obama/40% McCain
New Numbers: 58.2% Obama/40.4% McCain
It picks up a bit of reddish area of New Haven County, but it sees little change.
CT-03 (dark magenta): Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D)
Old Numbers: 63% Obama/36% McCain
New Numbers: 59.8% Obama/39.1% McCain
This district takes up reddish area in outer New Haven County, Fairfield County, and spills into Litchfield County.
CT-04 (red): Rep. Jim Himes (D)
Old Numbers: 60% Obama/40% McCain
New Numbers: 62% Obama/37.4% McCain
This district gets two points bluer by gaining Stratford and losing its reddish New Haven County precincts. Himes should be safe now.
CT-05 (gold): Rep. Chris Murphy (D) - retiring in order to run for Senate
Old Numbers: 56% Obama/42% McCain
New Numbers: 60% Obama/38.7% McCain
This district moves out of reach of the Republicans by gaining the deep blue territory lost by CT-01. Speaker Chris Donovan will be a shoo-in here in his race to inherit this district from Murphy.
This is basically Gerrymandering 101. Districts with blue precincts to spare will give what they can and districts that need more blue districts will take what they can. The result is a likely locked-in 5D-0R delegation from Connecticut. What do you think?