A reliably blue 8th seat, yes, but actually population trends now allow for the Oregon border seat to be the Cascade-crosser without having to split the city of Yakima, which didn't used to be the case and would definitely be an arguable alternative to crossing the Cascades at Ellensburg. And crossing the Cascades along the Columbia is hugely advantageous for the Democrats as southern Yakima County is strongly Democratic (mostly Hispanic and Native). The Democrats on the Commission definitely should have been proposing the map below, which creates another Biden seat while leaving all of the Democratic incumbents safe (the parts north of Olympia don't really matter for this purpose; they could do them however they wanted re: incumbent protection but I went for logical COIs, minimal splitting of municipalities and road connections (e.g., Skykomish)).
The border seat is Biden+1; the remaining Democratic seats are Biden+10 (Olympia/Olympic peninsula), Biden+15 (Bellingham/Everett), Biden+20 (Tacoma) or more.
Seeing WA-03 go into Yakima County explains why Republicans would definitely not be fans of such an idea (the current version is Trump+4 in 2020 and Trump+7 in 2016). I definitely agree that Democrats should be proposing such a plan. If anything's holding them back, it's that the Olympic Peninsula district would have to move into heavily Republican Lewis County. It's currently a Biden+18/Clinton+12 district. If you put all of Pacific County and Wahkiakum County into the Olympic Peninsula district (an idea I like because it creates an entirely coastal district), you can put the eastern 2/3 of Lewis County back into WA-03. If you also shift some precincts in Yakima County, the respective districts become Biden+11.4 and Trump+0.4.
You can also try something else by keeping all of Lewis County in WA-03 and moving WA-06 (your WA-04) into Cowlitz County and taking in the city of Longview. I'm strongly of the mind that only WA-03 should be crossing the West/East line. I used your map as a template and only edited the districts mentioned. The districts mentioned become Biden+13.2 and Trump+2.4:
The fact that Democrats didn't even propose a map like this (which is both more compact and more Democratic than the one they went with) is criminal malpractice.
Ever since Washington became a state in 1889, we have seen
nothing but
130 years of straight white men dominating the redistricting process, even as recently as 2010.
And
finally, in 2020, the Washington State Democratic Party made the brave and bold choice to appoint April Sims, a black woman, and Brady Walkinshaw, a gay man of color, to the redistricting commission. April Sims in particular came up with the most reasonable redistricting maps I have ever seen in my lifetime. She was not interested in shameless partisan redistricting. She drew districts that represented communities of interest and reflected the natural population growth in our state. She put the best interests of Washingtonians of all colors first and foremost.
But rather than recognizing her maps, and the maps of Brady Walkinshaw, as the watershed moment they are... All Antonio can do is call this
criminal malpractice. Apparently, black women and gay men of color are incapable of creating shameless gerrymanders to the liking of a White Italian-Frenchman.
Shame on you, Antonio. Your racism, misogyny, and homophobia do
NOT reflect the values of regular Washingtonians.
You should be embarrassed! And I am proud of my state for rebuking the disgusting "values" of people like you.
Folks, I will not lie to you. Part of me was worried that these two were "affirmative action" picks. But I was wrong. April Sims came up with some of the best redistricting maps I have ever seen this state produce. Do not listen to bigots like Antonio. Listen to brave women like April Sims. People like her represent the future of our state, and make me proud to be a Washingtonian.
