Today's installment brings us interactive state legislative district maps for Texas and Alaska, utilizing the presidential election results by district calculated by the team at Daily Kos Elections. Each legislative chamber is mapped out and color coded according to the presidential winner and the party that holds each district, along with some info on each legislator. You can find links to all the previously released maps here, which you may want to bookmark.
Districts in solid blue were carried by Obama and are represented by a Democrat, while those in solid red were won by Mitt Romney and are held by a Republican. Lighter red districts voted for Obama and a Republican legislator while those in lighter blue went for Romney and a Democratic legislator. Note that the map displays use only the two-party vote to give you a more equivalent comparison between presidential and legislative results, but this post and Daily Kos Elections numbers include totals for third-party candidates, though the differences are minor.
Texas State Senate
Republicans in Texas maintained complete control over redistricting and saw their original districts overturned in a case that worked its way up to the Supreme Court over violations of the Voting Rights Act. The Texas state Senate along California's Senate is one of just two chambers where districts are larger than congressional districts with roughly 811,000 constituents. Senators serve staggered, four-year terms although all are up in years ending in -2.
Romney won 20 districts while Obama won just 11. Democrats hold all 11 Obama seats, plus gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis' SD-10 in Ft. Worth. In total, Republicans have a 19 to 12 majority and they are hoping to take Davis' open seat. Romney won the median district by a commanding 62 to 37, which was a wide nine points to the right of the state.
Texas State House of Representatives
The lower house map will actually have very minor changes this year from 2012's court-imposed map, with negligible partisan impact. Like the other chamber, Romney won just shy of 2/3rds of the seats with 96 to Obama's 54. Just like the state Senate, Democrats hold all of the Obama districts plus one Romney seat: This gives the Republicans an overall 95 to 55 majority. The median two districts voted for Romney by an average of 59 to 39, which was four percent more Republican than statewide.
Head below the fold for Alaska.
Alaska State Senate
Alaska is a rare state in where the governing majority has members of both parties with a handful of Democrats, whose districts are in yellow, in a coalition with Republicans. Republicans have a nominal 13 to seven majority, but their Democratic coalition partners give them a 15 to five supermajority. Republicans drew the districts and they don't take effect until this year's elections. Romney won 15 districts to Obama's five: Democrats hold two Romney seats in addition to all of Obama's. The median two seats went for Romney by an average of 57 to 40, two points to the right of his statewide performance. Senators serve staggered, four year terms and the body is the smallest of all the nation's 99 state legislative chambers.
Between both houses, all but one of the coalition Democrats represents a heavily Native American district while only one Democrat with a heavily Native American seat isn't in the governing coalition. The Native American vote in Alaska is highly responsive to incumbency and clout, as evidenced by those districts being Obama's best and some of Don Young's best in 2012. Were Democrats to take the majority, it is highly likely these coalition Democrats would return to the fold unlike turncoats in New York and Washington who flipped their state Senates to the Republicans.
Alaska State House of Representatives
The state House districts are nested with two comprising each Senate district. Romney carried 27 districts and Obama 13, while Democrats hold three Romney seats and Republicans sit in two won by Obama. Nominally Republicans have a 26 to 14 majority, but with the addition of four Democrats their coalition has a 30 to 10 super-majority. The median two seats supported Romney by an average of 55 to 42 which was actually two points to the left of the state.