This diary is a continuation of HoosierD42’s first diary series, in which he envisioned a House with an average district size of 110,000, as it is in Canada. In addition, the districts are referred to as “ridings”, and have names rather than numbers. They also tend to be less gerrymandered than US congressional districts, so all of my maps will be drawn as commission-style COI maps. I am using the VRA, but only when a majority-minority riding can be drawn compactly (so nothing like FL-03). Note that all population percentages are Voting Age Persons (VAP).
Under this system, Idaho gets 14 ridings instead of its current two districts. I am including a PVI and a generic race rating with each seat. As Republican as Idaho is, I am assuming that both state parties are a bit to the right of the national party, which will give Democrats a slightly better chance than PVI would indicate.
Sandpoint-Wallace (Blue)
Population: 94.0% White, Deviation +60
Political: 37.2% Obama, R+17, Safe R
Coeur d’Alene (Green)
Population: 93.4% White, Deviation +231
Political: 37.7% Obama, R+16, Safe R
Moscow-Council (Dark Magenta)
Population: 90.9% White, Deviation -90
Political: 42.0% Obama, R+12, Safe R
Apologies to any Idahoans who saw what this riding used to be called.
Garden Valley-Rexburg (Red)
Population: 91.0% White, 6.6% Hispanic, Deviation -751
Political: 21.9% Obama, R+32, Safe R
Orchard-Fairfield (Deep Pink)
Population: 83.5% White, 11.0% Hispanic, Deviation +975
Political: 38.1% Obama, R+16, Safe R
Murphy-Twin Falls (Chartreuse)
Population: 81.8% White, 14.8% Hispanic, Deviation -804
Political: 29.7% Obama, R+24, Safe R
Burley-Paris (Cornflower Blue)
Population: 81.4% White, 16.6% Hispanic, Deviation -164
Political: 27.3% Obama, R+27, Safe R
Pocatello-Blackfoot (Dark Salmon)
Population: 83.5% White, 9.3% Hispanic, Deviation +513
Political: 39.5% Obama, R+15, Safe R
Idaho Falls (Olive)
Population: 87.8% White, 9.3% Hispanic, Deviation +940
Political: 28.1% Obama, R+26, Safe R. Mike Simpson (R-ID-02) runs here.
Payette-Emmet (Gold)
Population: 82.5% White, 14.4% Hispanic, Deviation +177
Political: 28.1% Obama, R+26, Safe R
Caldwell-Nampa (Teal)
Population: 74.9% White, 21.3% Hispanic, Deviation +359
Political: 35.6% Obama, R+18, Safe R
Meridian-Eagle (Dark Grey)
Population: 91.0% White, Deviation -842
Political: 35.2% Obama, R+19, Safe R. Raul Labrador (R-ID-01) would probably run here.
Boise North (Slate Blue)
Population: 89.9% White, Deviation -410
Political: 55.1% Obama, D+1, Lean D. Raul Labrador might live here, but Walt Minnick does too, and would have beat him here even in 2010.
Boise South (Cyan)
Population: 85.5% White, 7.0% Hispanic, Deviation -192
Political: 53.4% Obama, R+1, Lean D
The end result is a 2-12-0 map, with the Democratic seats being much shakier than the Republican seats. Combined with HoosierD42's states (NM, NH, ND, SD, VT), there are 69 ridings, with totalled ratings of 27-35-7. But note that this is only a tiny minority of the 2807 ridings the US has in total under this system (DC included).