US House Redistricting: Idaho

[Sol]

Just split the Boise area, ffs. That map is way worse in outcome.

[Sol]

My concern isn't partisan--it's that the panhandle and eastern Idaho are incredibly different from each other and very remote to one another. Idaho has about three distinct and pretty obvious communities of interest (Panhandle, Boise Metro, and Eastern Idaho) so any configuration of two districts is going to suck in some way. Eastern Idaho and Boise have strong links, and are all in the Snake River Valley--compare that to Coeur D'Alene and Pocatello, which are an 8 hour drive apart. Plenty of people often have never been in the other region.

Since we've last talked, I've swung hard back to CoI based districts.

[Sol]

Boise metro kept whole, reasonably compact, population deviation under 0.1%, one district is almost becoming competitive, only one county split (Blaine, cause it's so ugly):



Blue: Little +34.1, Trump +44.3
Green: Little +9.5, Trump +16.9

I'm not sure if this is really the best way to be doing things. The Boise metro is definitely a CoI, but the panhandle and eastern Idaho are astonishingly remote from each other, with about as much in common as Spokane and Provo.

Greater Boise isn't that well connected to Coeur D'Alene, but it's definitely better than Idaho Falls, and Boise and Eastern Idaho actually fit reasonably well together on account of the Snake River Valley. It's better to crack one CoI than misallocate two IMO.

[Sol]

I hope they go with the unified Boise Area map. It's not like that district would be winnable for Dems regardless, and it would be objectively better for COI representation.

The trouble is that it turns the other district into a truly awful district, which makes zero sense geographically (it's likely to be barely contiguous) and culturally (Deeply Mormon and Mountain western Eastern Idaho is pretty different from the Spokane-adjacent panhandle). Splitting metro Boise sucks, but the city is a decent fit with Eastern Idaho. Pairing the panhandle and the Boise area isn't great but it's better than the alternative.

[Sol]

The commission has posted another congressional map today (C03). It has a total population deviation of 0. This will likely be the final map, and a vote will be held Friday November 5.

Thank God they're doing this and not the hideous Boise--Non-Boise thing