Neutral map series

[Torie]

Nice job.

[Torie]

Minnesota

There are zero municipality splits (unless you count Saint Anthony, which rests in both Hennepin and Ramsey counties), three county splits (at least one of them unavoidable), and three whole-county CDs.

The overall layout was clear from the beginning. MN-05 entirely within Hennepin, box-like MN-01, big northern MN-08, et cetera. I fine-tuned it however; MN-02 previously followed the Minnesota River and Dakota County was once split in two and Washington County in three. I ultimately rotated MN-02, MN-07, and MN-06 to get what I had now. I also appreciate how  Hennepin and Wright counties together have just enough for 2 CDs between them.

There are 4 Biden seats and 4 Trump seats. 4 seats voted for the winning party by double digits - two each for both Trump and Biden. This map would probably break 4-4 most years, but Rs and Ds could win as much as 6 seats. My MN-01 took inspiration from ProgressiveModerate's one...ironically, though, I started off with it before changing it in later edits, adding it back after seeing his nationwide map.

MN-01 (Rochester): 83W; 52-45 Trump, R+7
MN-02 (Eagan): 76W; 52-46 Biden, R+1
MN-03 (Bloomington): 75W, 10B; 55-43 Biden, D+2
MN-04 (Saint Paul): 61W, 15A, 15B; 68-30 Biden, D+18
MN-05 (Minneapolis): 61W, 19B, 10H; 80-18 Biden, D+30
MN-06 (Coon Rapids): 83W; 55-43 Trump, R+9
MN-07 (St. Cloud): 86W; 65-33 Trump, R+19
MN-08 (Duluth): 86W, 53-44 Trump, R+7

DRA link

That map is a work of art and just perfect, until one's eye casts upon Sibley County, which makes the stain on Lady Macbeth's dress utterly benign in comparison. That poor small rural county is cast to the Twin Cities metro wolves, and an erose excresence to boot, that adds an erosity point under the Muon2 rules with another road cut between county seats. So to lose that crime against nature, is worth an extra muni chop, and moving a couple of counties around, in the Torieverse.

https://davesredistricting.org/join/d9f36f81-11bc-4ad1-bb94-4bacacb84f34

One can come close to avoiding an extra muni chop, but not quite there alas. In fact, to squeeze through the 0.5% rule, a precinct in Cottage Grove needed to be cut as well. The idea with chops even when necessary is to minimize the population involved. So other muni' are taken in in Washington County to minimize the size of the CG cut.

[Torie]

Interestingly, the MN-01 tail does not generate an extra erosity penalty point under the Muon2 rules. It's a freebie. What you did with Sibley does, as well as another penalty point for MN-02 straying outside the MSA counties.

[Torie]

Interestingly, the MN-01 tail does not generate an extra erosity penalty point under the Muon2 rules. It's a freebie. What you did with Sibley does, as well as another penalty point for MN-02 straying outside the MSA counties.

This makes for an interesting test case as to how the existence of these kinds of rules changes the optimal map.
I can see why Sibley might create an additional erosity point. In terms of the overall district shape, it is a significantly larger protusion west than two counties in the larger MN-01 would.

Just so you know, you generate erosity penalty points when the highway that one takes as the most direct route between two county seats crosses a district boundary. It is a very clever algorithm actually, that makes a lot more sense than the statistical/geometric tests that computers spit out that nobody really understands, and don't make sense if you have natural barriers. You don't put Inyo County with Tulare County for a reason.