10 changes which are
entirely for aesthetic reasons:
1) Merge North Dakota and South Dakota
2) Also add Nebraska to the merged state
3) Also add Kansas to the merged state
4) Also add Oklahoma to the merged state
5) Also add Wyoming to the merged state
6) Also add Montana to the merged state
7) Also add Idaho to the merged state
Also add Utah to the merged state
9) Also add Arkansas to the merged state
10) Also add Iowa to the merged state (or you could do Tennessee instead)
This would leave us with one big beautiful new state, which would would call the state of "Plains"
According to here (
https://kevinhayeswilson.com/redraw/), it would have:
23,498,189 population
33 electoral votes
4,062,742 Biden votes (37.9%)
6,459,909 Trump votes (60.2%)
204,717 Libertarian votes
Plains would be the 3rd largest state among the 40 states, about 2 million people larger than Florida, 6 million less than Texas, and 59% as populous as California. By the next census it might drop to the 4th most populous state depending on how much Florida grows.
