Virginia and NoVA

[nclib]

What would Virginia look like politically and demographically if northern Virginia (i.e. the DC suburbs) were taken out? How would it differ from the rest of the South? Would Democrats ever be able to win an election there?

[Padfoot]

It would probably look like it did about 15 years ago if even that far back.  The rising political influence of NoVA on the state is a fairly new phenomenon as is the region's leftward turn.

[Adlai Stevenson]

What is also interesting is to speculate if West Virginia had never broken away from Virginia and it was still one big state of Virginia.  If you combine the results in 1960 it is an exact tie between Nixon and Kennedy.  For 2004 I think Bush beats Kerry by about 54%-44%.  It would be interesting - who would represent the state in the Senate?  Would Robert Byrd or John Warner ever have been Senators?  It would be quite a big state in terms of electoral votes and Congressional representation as well. 

[Person Man]

Actually, Virginia is already as moderate as the rest of the nation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/14/AR2007071401020_pf.html

[Jaggerjack]

Virginia is certainly more moderate than most other Southern states.

[nclib]

I calculated the 2004 results of Northern Va. (i.e. counties/cities within the DC metro) and Kerry won NoVa 51.2%-48.0%.

NoVa cast 32.5% of Virginia's vote and the rest of Virginia voted 56.4%-42.7% Bush.

If Virginia did not include NoVa, it would have been more Republican in 2004 than Arkansas, Arizona, North Carolina, and West Virginia.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Virginia would become much more conservative, and very few Democrats would ever be able to compete in Senatorial or Presidential elections.

[memphis]

Without NoVA, you'd have a copy of North Carolina, meaning a center-right state that will elect conservative Dems . Removing NOVA, which I define as Faifax, Arlington, Loudoun and Prince William Counties, as well as the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, and Manassas, Mark Warner still wins gubernatorial election of 2001, though his margin is less than half.  Kaine still wins in 2005 by just over 1000 votes! George "Macaca" Allen wins comfortably, however, with over 100,000 votes to spare.

[DanielX]

I personally favor a bit of state re-shuffling:

Join NoVA with central Maryland, DC, and bits of WVa to form the state of "Potomac".
Join the rest of West Virginia with 2-3 counties in western Maryland and some bits of western and southwestern Virginia to form the state of "Appalachia".
Join Delaware with the eastern shore parts of Maryland and Virginia to form the state of "Delmarva".
The rest of Virginia remains as "Virginia".

[Jaggerjack]

I personally favor a bit of state re-shuffling:

Join NoVA with central Maryland, DC, and bits of WVa to form the state of "Potomac".
Join the rest of West Virginia with 2-3 counties in western Maryland and some bits of western and southwestern Virginia to form the state of "Appalachia".
Join Delaware with the eastern shore parts of Maryland and Virginia to form the state of "Delmarva".
The rest of Virginia remains as "Virginia".

NO. That would make Delaware competitive.

[memphis]

I personally favor a bit of state re-shuffling:

Join NoVA with central Maryland, DC, and bits of WVa to form the state of "Potomac".
Join the rest of West Virginia with 2-3 counties in western Maryland and some bits of western and southwestern Virginia to form the state of "Appalachia".
Join Delaware with the eastern shore parts of Maryland and Virginia to form the state of "Delmarva".
The rest of Virginia remains as "Virginia".

While you're re-shuffling states, join Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and both the Dakotas all into one state, so that you finally have enough people to deserve two senators.

[DanielX]

I personally favor a bit of state re-shuffling:

Join NoVA with central Maryland, DC, and bits of WVa to form the state of "Potomac".
Join the rest of West Virginia with 2-3 counties in western Maryland and some bits of western and southwestern Virginia to form the state of "Appalachia".
Join Delaware with the eastern shore parts of Maryland and Virginia to form the state of "Delmarva".
The rest of Virginia remains as "Virginia".

While you're re-shuffling states, join Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and both the Dakotas all into one state, so that you finally have enough people to deserve two senators.

Excessive. Joining the Dakotas together makes sense; joining Montana and Wyoming together as well. However, I don't like having states that are too big, either population-wise or physical size.  I'd rather break bigger states apart than have a handful of gigantic whales.

If you're going to do that, New York, Texas, California, and Florida should be split into 3 states each (or some bits merged into other states, or new states formed formed from multiple ones - ie turning Metro New York City into a single state).  I'd also separate Chicagoland from the rest of Illinois, and Pennsylvania might merit two states.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Abolish states and make the FedGov be the sole power.

[Person Man]

I personally favor a bit of state re-shuffling:

Join NoVA with central Maryland, DC, and bits of WVa to form the state of "Potomac".
Join the rest of West Virginia with 2-3 counties in western Maryland and some bits of western and southwestern Virginia to form the state of "Appalachia".
Join Delaware with the eastern shore parts of Maryland and Virginia to form the state of "Delmarva".
The rest of Virginia remains as "Virginia".

While you're re-shuffling states, join Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and both the Dakotas all into one state, so that you finally have enough people to deserve two senators.

Excessive. Joining the Dakotas together makes sense; joining Montana and Wyoming together as well. However, I don't like having states that are too big, either population-wise or physical size.  I'd rather break bigger states apart than have a handful of gigantic whales.

If you're going to do that, New York, Texas, California, and Florida should be split into 3 states each (or some bits merged into other states, or new states formed formed from multiple ones - ie turning Metro New York City into a single state).  I'd also separate Chicagoland from the rest of Illinois, and Pennsylvania might merit two states.

Nah... but Texas should be divided into El Paso, Amarillo(that would go to Oklahoma), Houston and Austin areas.

West Virginia, Southern Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana should be simply Kentucky

Montana and Wyoming should be the State of Big Horn and the Dakotas, Dakota

Eastern Ohio should become part of Pennsylvania and Michigan and North Western Ohio should be joined.

Florida should be divided into Jacksonville, the I-4 corridor and Miami.

Calfirornia should be divided into Southern California and Northern California.

Pueblo and Hispanic Colorado should join New Mexico

Idaho and Utah should be one state

Las Vegas should be its own state and the rest of Nevada would go to Utah, as well as the Northern Half of Arizona that is not Navahoe or Grand Canyon Land. The Navajo nation should be in New Mexico and Colorado Springs and its corridor should go to Kansas and Arlington-Alexandria should be North Virginia, along with the Chesapeake strip.

[Adlai Stevenson]

I think I've read that Texas has a provision where it can divide itself into five states if it chooses or something? 

[memphis]

I think I've read that Texas has a provision where it can divide itself into five states if it chooses or something? 

Yes, that was one of the conditions of annexation, IIRC. Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its flag at the same level as the US flag on the same pole.

[DWPerry]

I think I've read that Texas has a provision where it can divide itself into five states if it chooses or something? 

Yes, that was one of the conditions of annexation, IIRC. Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its flag at the same level as the US flag on the same pole.

You cannot fly 2 flags at the same height on the same pole

[DanielX]

I think I've read that Texas has a provision where it can divide itself into five states if it chooses or something? 

Yes, that was one of the conditions of annexation, IIRC. Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its flag at the same level as the US flag on the same pole.

You cannot fly 2 flags at the same height on the same pole

Yes you can... if you have two ropes on the pole.

[MasterJedi]

I think I've read that Texas has a provision where it can divide itself into five states if it chooses or something? 

Yes, that was one of the conditions of annexation, IIRC. Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its flag at the same level as the US flag on the same pole.

You cannot fly 2 flags at the same height on the same pole

Yes you can... if you have two ropes on the pole.

What pole has two ropes? I suspect somebody could find one that does but...

[Frodo]

What would Virginia look like politically and demographically if northern Virginia (i.e. the DC suburbs) were taken out? How would it differ from the rest of the South? Would Democrats ever be able to win an election there?

It would probably be not much different from South Carolina with its sizable military population. 

[CultureKing]

I know here there have been efforts to join Western Oregon and Washington and form one state, and join eastern Oregon and Washington to form another state (Columbia)

Also there was a measure this last year to let Eastern Washington jsut go off and form its own state (it was defeated in the state legislature)