My map is very simple: I packed all of the heavily conservative counties into 1 Milwaukee suburb district or I diluted them in the Madison district. I maintained the Milwaukee minority district as best as possible. I completely screwed Paul Ryan out of any chance of being elected to a district in south Wisconsin. I shored up Ron Kind, while significantly weakening every republican except for Sensenbrenner. Gwen Moore and the Madison district are slightly less democratic, but both are incredibly democratic and safe.
Aerial View: http://twitpic.com/...
Statewide View: http://twitpic.com/...
Milwaukee: http://twitpic.com/...
1. Green: I wanted to defeat Paul Ryan (R) with this map. Not only did I draw his home in Janesville into the 3rd district (which he cannot win), I also completely changed his district to include the Milwaukee shore. I wanted to weaken Paul Ryan while maintaining Gwen Moore’s minority district to avoid VRA issues. So the way to weaken Paul Ryan was to trade white voters. I gave Gwen Moore white republicans in West Milwaukee to replace the coastal white democratic districts that I gave to Paul Ryan. The old 1st district was a swing district that Obama won with 51%; the new district will significantly favor the democrats. Obama easily carried this new shoreline district with 56.8% of the vote. Paul Ryan cannot win this district or the 3rd district. Leans Dem.
2. Purple: This Madison based district does not change much from the old version. I removed democratic leaning Rock and Green counties, and I moved them into the 3rd district. I added more swingy counties to the north from the 6th district in order to weaken Tom Petri (R): Marquette, Green Lake, and Waushara counties. As a result, the district moves a bit to the right; however, no republican will ever win this district. Obama won the old district with 69%; the new district is still 66.3% Obama. Solid Dem.
3. Pink: I wanted to make the 3rd district more democratic for Ron Kind (D). I shifted some democrats around by Green and Rock counties. Meanwhile, I shifted Eau Claire, Sauk, Jackson, Clark, and Juneau counties to the 7th district in order to weaken Sean Duffy (R). The old 3rd district was 58% Obama; the new district is 58.9% Obama. Likely Dem.
4. Blue: The 4th district lost population in the last decade. It is impossible to maintain this district as majority minority in terms of voting age population, but it is still majority minority in terms of total population. Gwen Moore (D) will easily hold this district. Obama carried the old district with 75% of the vote. The new district is 45.0% white (51.9% VAP), 33.5% black (30.3% VAP), 15.2% Hispanic (12.7% VAP), and Obama won with 69.4%. Solid Dem.
5. Red: Wisconsin is very different from most other states. Usually, democrats are packed into small urban areas, and republicans are spread out. Often, republicans use this to pack democrats into a few districts. However, in Wisconsin, most of the republicans are concentrated in a few suburban Milwaukee counties: Waukesha, Dodge, Washington, and Ozaukee counties. So, I packed all 4 counties into 1 district. James Sensenbrenner (R) will easily hold this district. No democrat could ever win this seat. The old 5th district was 41% Obama; the new district is 37.4% Obama. Solid GOP.
6. Light Green: I made some big changed to the 6th district in order to make Tom Petri (R) more vulnerable. I moved Dodge county into the 5th district, and I moved Marquette, Green Lake, and Waushara counties to the 2nd district. By moving these conservative leaning counties out, I was able to move the swingy Waupacka county and Appleton into the 6th. This made the 6th more democratic. The old district was a slightly conservative leaning swing seat which barely Obama won with 50% of the vote. The new district is 52.3% Obama. Tossup.
7. Light Blue: I moved the 7th to south significantly in order to make it more democratic. I added several democratic counties to the new 7th: Eau Claire, Sauk, Jackson, Clark, and Juneau counties. Freshman Sean Duffy (R) was already in a democratic leaning district that he won only because 2010 was a bad year for the democrats. However, he has made several gaffs and is unpopular in his district. Democrats have a top recruit with former state senator Kreitlow (D). This district will be very difficult for Duffy to hold. The old district was 56% Obama; the new district is 56.8% Obama. Leans Dem.
8. Orange: Because I moved Appleton into the 6th district, I moved the 8th to the democratic leaning northwest to create a vast northern Wisconsin district stretching from Green Bay to Polk county. Freshman Reid Ribble (R) defeated Steve Kagen (D) in the 2010 wave. He will have a tougher district to run in. The old 8th was 53% Obama; the new district is 54.6% Obama. Tossup.