This week I have interactive state legislative district maps for Illinois and Oklahoma, 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.
Illinois State Senate
Illinois was one of the very few states where the Democrats in charge drew an aggressive gerrymander with a large impact. President Obama carried 38 of 59 districts in his home state and Democrats hold all of those plus two that voted for Romney. Democrats thus have a 40-to-19 supermajority with veto overrides requiring three-fifths to pass.
The median seat went for Obama by 57 to 41. Because Democrats are so heavily concentrated in urban Chicago districts, this is 1 percent to the right of the state. Senators serve two terms lasting four years and one lasting two years each decade, with term length staggered so that various numbers of senators are elected each cycle.
Illinois State House of Representatives
Lower house districts are nested with two making up each Senate district. Obama won 75 districts to 43 for Romney. Unlike the more aligned Senate, Republicans hold nine Obama seats while Democrats hold five that went for Romney. Overall, Democrats hold a 71-to-47 supermajority, but unlike the Senate, Democrats here only have the bare minimum of seats required to override vetoes. The median two districts voted for Obama 57 to 42, two points more Republican than statewide.
Head below the fold for Oklahoma.
Oklahoma State Senate
Republicans in the Sooner State exercised total control over the redistricting process for the first time ever, but that was wholly unnecessary to produce huge majorities in one of Romney's best states. Obama carried just four districts to Romney's 44. Republicans currently hold a 36-to-12 supermajority. Democrats hold eight Romney seats as well as all of Obama's, but it's not nearly enough to dent the GOP's edge. The two median districts went for Romney by an average of 70 to 30, 6 percent to the right of the state. Senators serve staggered four-year terms and are term-limited to 12 years between either chamber.
Oklahoma State House of Representatives
Democrats are in a slightly less terrible position in the other chamber even though Obama only won eight districts to Romney's 93. In addition to those eight, Team Blue also holds 21 Romney districts, including nearly every single one contained in the state's ancestrally Democratic 2nd Congressional District in eastern Oklahoma.
The Republicans' 72-to-29 supermajority is unfortunately more likely to expand than shrink as realignment and term limits will eventually see the demise of those remaining rural Blue Dog Democrats. The median seat voted for Romney 69 to 31, 5 percent more Republican than the state.