Anyone who knows me both in person or on DK Elections/SSP knows I love to draw maps. I've published maps, I'm scrapped maps, I've practiced maps. I love redistricting...
Anyway, I think I've made my best map yet. I think I've succeeded in making a clean, compact, and Democrat-favored congressional map. How would this get enacted? A commission could produce this OR Dems could make a deal with some Senate GOPers for more favorable districts for them. I really like this map, and this is something that Dems should propose. It's a genuine 23-3-1 (probably 23-4) map in neutral years.
My goals:
-Produce a map that follows CoIs and most county lines
-Follow the VRA (I added two new Hispanic VAP majority seats)
-Charlie Rangel and Joe Crowley have two new Hispanic-majority seats
-Ackerman now has an Asian plurality seat
-Though Greg Meeks' district lost population, I see no reason why it needs to go to Nassau County. This can be debated.
-Make Dems slightly favored, but not enough to kill any kind of deal
-Make most Democratic congresspeople happy (Crowley, Rangel, and Velazquez would not be thrilled)
-Keep Monroe County mostly in tact
The map:
Tim Bishop (D-Southampton)
Obama 52%
Steve Israel (D-Huntington)
Obama 59%
Peter King (R-Oyster Bay) -- Lives out of district
Obama 45%
Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola)
Obama 59%
Gary Ackerman (D-Roslyn Heights)
Obama 63.5%
Asian VAP plurality: 40.5%
Greg Meeks (D-Queens)
Obama 86.3%
Black VAP plurality: 41%
Joe Crowley (D-Queens)
Obama 80%
Hispanic VAP majority: 50.4%
Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan)
Obama 79%
Nydia Velazquez (D-Queens)
Obama 77%
White majority VAP: 56%
(I'd argue this is legal: I made two new Hispanic majority districts, this wasn't majority before, and the predecessor has lost Hispanic population as a percentage.)
Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn)
Obama 84%
Black majority VAP: 50.6%
Ed Towns (D-Brooklyn)
Obama 84.6%
Black majority VAP: 51.8%
Jose Serrano (D-Bronx)
Obama 91%
Hispanic majority VAP: 58%
Mike Grimm (R-Staten Island)
Obama 52%
Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan)
Obama 79.5%
Charlie Rangel (D-Manhattan)
Obama 93.4%
Hispanic majority VAP: 50.1%
Nita Lowey (D-Harrison)
Obama 60.5%
Nan Hayworth (R-Mount Kisco)
Obama 55.6%
Eliot Engel (D-Bronx)
Obama 65%
Majority minority VAP: 51%
Maurice Hinchey (D-Saugerties)
Obama 57%
Paul Tonko (D-Amsterdam)
Obama 57.5%
Bill Owens (D-Plattsburgh) and Chris Gibson (R-Kinderhook)
Obama 54.5%
Richard Hanna (R-Barneveld)
Obama 46.5%
Ann Marie Buerkle (R-Syracuse)
Obama 56.5%
Louise Slaughter (D-Fairport)
Obama 59%
Tom Reed (R-Corning)
Obama 45%
Kathy Hochul (D-Hamburg)
Obama 53%
Brian Higgins (D-Buffalo)
Obama 56%