2020 Census and Redistricting Thread: Maryland

[SevenEleven]

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

This is a great map. Elegant, reduces county splits, and does the job well. The seats all make sense too.

[Coastal Elitist]

Here's a fair map of Maryland that I'm sure Democrats will never allow.



PVI
MD-1: R+9
MD-2: D+1
MD-3: R+4
MD-4: R+9
MD-5: D+36
MD-6: D+31
MD-7: D+22
MD-8: D+37

[lfromnj]

Theres no bridge connection for 4. Is there atleast a ferry connection? Does anyone know.

That 4th district would actually be pretty good if it at least had a bridge somewhere.

[Coastal Elitist]

Theres no bridge connection for 4. Is there atleast a ferry connection? Does anyone know.

That 4th district would actually be pretty good if it at least had a bridge somewhere.

Darn it, didn't realize that. I'll just have the 4th go up to the bridge and bring the 2nd down a little more

[SevenEleven]

That's not a fair map at all lmao.

That isn't even a good R gerrymander.

[lfromnj]

Also wtf is that md 2 . That's clearly trying to get a swing district. I thought it was safe d.

[I’m not Stu]

Here's a fair map of Maryland that I'm sure Democrats will never allow.



PVI
MD-1: R+9
MD-2: D+1
MD-3: R+4
MD-4: R+9
MD-5: D+36
MD-6: D+31
MD-7: D+22
MD-8: D+37

Three R PVI with two safe R? One tossup needs to be made safe D for a fair map. Two safe R, one tossup, and the rest safe D is fair.

[lfromnj]

Anyway TPH this is probably the map you want thats closer to a fair map.

If one wishes they can create a compact Prince Georges and Charles County district and then one Montgomery + rest of Prince George's. The Beltway district here is 45% black which normally means black representative but its 90% D. The outer PG district is only 80% D and 56% black . Disadvantage is the quad cut of Baltimore county but 2 of those cuts are relatively small.

[Coastal Elitist]

Uh how is it an R gerrymander. All I looked at was demographics when I made it. My goal was to minimize city and county splits. I made one district taking in Montgomery and one taking in Prince George and Charles and then I combined what was left into the 8th and then going up into Howard County makes sense. I did not take partisanship into consideration at all any suggestion of that I find insulting. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it a gerrymander.

[lfromnj]

MD works much better with 9 districts really.
(Im not a big fan of crossing the bridge with 8 districts either but its not the worst COI if you actually have a bridge across the shore and connect it with the western shore. Will try one 9 district later.

Anyway one Western MD district, thats clearly 5 compact counties.
One eastern shore and most of Harford.
One Baltimore Exurbs +suburbs thats Lean D.

One Western shore and most of Charles thats Lean R.One PG black VRA district. One Beltway district that might function as a VRA district and one rest of MontCo. Finally one leftover Baltimore Southern suburban district.

Purple is Clinton +5 and Teal is Trump +4.

[Nyvin]

Almost all the supposed "fair" maps in this thread have intentionally drawn Republican districts.   

[lfromnj]

Almost all the supposed "fair" maps in this thread have intentionally drawn Republican districts.   

Yes the natural western MD district and the eastern shore district,
And then drawing a tossup in the SE.

[cvparty]

there's no good reason to cross the bay. it's one of the most obvious natural barriers in the whole country
and there is no "demographics" argument to link the western and eastern shores lol. except maybe the republican demographic

[lfromnj]

there's no good reason to cross the bay. it's one of the most obvious natural barriers in the whole country
and there is no "demographics" argument to link the western and eastern shores lol. except maybe the republican demographic

Its not a GOP argument, I genuinely think both of these maps are acceptable but I thought crossing the bay there might be better. The only difference here is crossing the bay creates a swing district in Baltimore while this creates a swing Western shore district.( The weird yellow arm in Montgomery keeps Georgetown whole.) The actual partisan effect in either map is neglible. What a partisan decision! I made a Trump +3.5 instead of Trump +2 district.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

there's no good reason to cross the bay. it's one of the most obvious natural barriers in the whole country
and there is no "demographics" argument to link the western and eastern shores lol. except maybe the republican demographic

Its not a GOP argument, I genuinely think both of these maps are acceptable but I thought crossing the bay there might be better. The only difference here is crossing the bay creates a swing district in Baltimore while this creates a swing Western shore district.( The weird yellow arm in Montgomery keeps Georgetown whole.) The actual partisan effect in either map is neglible. What a partisan decision! I made a Trump +3.5 instead of Trump +2 district.

Wowwww...remember when I (understandably) got attacked for a map with a Fairfax County quad-cut that at leas followed natural boundaries? Well, that Montgomery quad-cut is twice as bad. Also, keeping the three Southern MD Counties together is so incredibly obvious, just like keeping the Eastern Shore and the counties from Fredrick west together.

[Nyvin]

there's no good reason to cross the bay. it's one of the most obvious natural barriers in the whole country
and there is no "demographics" argument to link the western and eastern shores lol. except maybe the republican demographic

Its not a GOP argument, I genuinely think both of these maps are acceptable but I thought crossing the bay there might be better. The only difference here is crossing the bay creates a swing district in Baltimore while this creates a swing Western shore district.( The weird yellow arm in Montgomery keeps Georgetown whole.) The actual partisan effect in either map is neglible. What a partisan decision! I made a Trump +3.5 instead of Trump +2 district.

Wowwww...remember when I (understandably) got attacked for a map with a Fairfax County quad-cut that at leas followed natural boundaries? Well, that Montgomery quad-cut is twice as bad. Also, keeping the three Southern MD Counties together is so incredibly obvious, just like keeping the Eastern Shore and the counties from Fredrick west together.

There's hardly any road connections between Annapolis and Calvert County too,  MD-4 briefly goes into Anne Arundel county but then veers into Prince George pretty much right away.  Calvert and St Marys counties are only connected by a single bridge.

Going out of the way to create a tossup/tilt R district there is nothing more than partisan gerrymandering.  Same thing for the R districts made in Baltimore County elsewhere.

I mean, it's fine if it's intended to maximize Republican districts in the state, but stating it's "fair" is disingenuous.

[SevenEleven]

there's no good reason to cross the bay. it's one of the most obvious natural barriers in the whole country
and there is no "demographics" argument to link the western and eastern shores lol. except maybe the republican demographic

Its not a GOP argument, I genuinely think both of these maps are acceptable but I thought crossing the bay there might be better. The only difference here is crossing the bay creates a swing district in Baltimore while this creates a swing Western shore district.( The weird yellow arm in Montgomery keeps Georgetown whole.) The actual partisan effect in either map is neglible. What a partisan decision! I made a Trump +3.5 instead of Trump +2 district.

Wowwww...remember when I (understandably) got attacked for a map with a Fairfax County quad-cut that at leas followed natural boundaries? Well, that Montgomery quad-cut is twice as bad. Also, keeping the three Southern MD Counties together is so incredibly obvious, just like keeping the Eastern Shore and the counties from Fredrick west together.

The Fairfax cut is completely justified. Notice the same people who criticized that constantly making less sensible decisions with partisan intentions?

[lfromnj]

there's no good reason to cross the bay. it's one of the most obvious natural barriers in the whole country
and there is no "demographics" argument to link the western and eastern shores lol. except maybe the republican demographic

Its not a GOP argument, I genuinely think both of these maps are acceptable but I thought crossing the bay there might be better. The only difference here is crossing the bay creates a swing district in Baltimore while this creates a swing Western shore district.( The weird yellow arm in Montgomery keeps Georgetown whole.) The actual partisan effect in either map is neglible. What a partisan decision! I made a Trump +3.5 instead of Trump +2 district.

Wowwww...remember when I (understandably) got attacked for a map with a Fairfax County quad-cut that at leas followed natural boundaries? Well, that Montgomery quad-cut is twice as bad. Also, keeping the three Southern MD Counties together is so incredibly obvious, just like keeping the Eastern Shore and the counties from Fredrick west together.

meh and if i didnt keep the quad cut you would attack me for not keeping the Beltway together or for VRA concerns. Could easily keep it to a triple cut.


Anyway there we go , Triple cut, I don't care either way tbh.

[cvparty]

there's no good reason to cross the bay. it's one of the most obvious natural barriers in the whole country
and there is no "demographics" argument to link the western and eastern shores lol. except maybe the republican demographic

Its not a GOP argument, I genuinely think both of these maps are acceptable but I thought crossing the bay there might be better. The only difference here is crossing the bay creates a swing district in Baltimore while this creates a swing Western shore district.( The weird yellow arm in Montgomery keeps Georgetown whole.) The actual partisan effect in either map is neglible. What a partisan decision! I made a Trump +3.5 instead of Trump +2 district.

i was talking specifically about coastal elitist's map with the claim of "demographic reasons" to cross the bay. and i don't think the western shore district you have is a strong COI because the western shore
1) is not analogous to the eastern shore. it goes all the way through baltimore and up to harford county and thus contains many rural, exurban, suburban and urban areas while the eastern shore is pretty uniform in its rural nature, has a clear extent and cultural identity and can be contained wholly in one district. also, "western shore" often refers to all of maryland west of the susquehanna, so it's pretty ambiguous
2) spans different metro areas, and causes other districts to encompass different metros
3) isn't compact and lacks strong road connections

southern maryland is a stronger COI that would actually preserve metro areas and better represent the settlement patterns of the state. calvert is a washington exurb that fits with charles county. anne arundel is way more connected to howard county and baltimore than calvert/st mary's

also, not totally related but i don't think a beltway district is the best idea. if i'm not mistaken i think you favor concentric-type districts right? but they're not compact, and bethesda is not similar to the eastern suburbs of washington at all

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

there's no good reason to cross the bay. it's one of the most obvious natural barriers in the whole country
and there is no "demographics" argument to link the western and eastern shores lol. except maybe the republican demographic

Its not a GOP argument, I genuinely think both of these maps are acceptable but I thought crossing the bay there might be better. The only difference here is crossing the bay creates a swing district in Baltimore while this creates a swing Western shore district.( The weird yellow arm in Montgomery keeps Georgetown whole.) The actual partisan effect in either map is neglible. What a partisan decision! I made a Trump +3.5 instead of Trump +2 district.

Wowwww...remember when I (understandably) got attacked for a map with a Fairfax County quad-cut that at leas followed natural boundaries? Well, that Montgomery quad-cut is twice as bad. Also, keeping the three Southern MD Counties together is so incredibly obvious, just like keeping the Eastern Shore and the counties from Fredrick west together.

meh and if i didnt keep the quad cut you would attack me for not keeping the Beltway together or for VRA concerns. Could easily keep it to a triple cut.


Anyway there we go , Triple cut, I don't care either way tbh.

Huh? Inside the beltway is bad specifically because of VRA concerns. Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Silver Spring are white AF and should be paired with Rockville, Potomac, and Gaithersburg. And splitting up Southern MD is still ridiculous.

[SevenEleven]

Anyone want to explain to me what's wrong with my map? It's far cleaner than any of these other fair maps and actually keeps COIs intact. 3 AA districts as well.

Remember, Silver Spring and Bethesda are at opposite ends of the red line. In DC terms, these areas are not close at all.

[lfromnj]

Anyway fair enough about the western shore. 

Whats everyone opinion of this map?. I triple Chopped Anne Arrundel with that small southern split to  put Maryland Boulevard (road) in the southern district. The Purple district is a bit GOP leaning at Clinton +0.2 and the blue District is Clinton +0.8. I made the map without partisan data first.

[SevenEleven]

There is no reason to cut Annapolis like that or to loop the purple district around Baltimore. None.

[lfromnj]

Anyone want to explain to me what's wrong with my map? It's far cleaner than any of these other fair maps and actually keeps COIs intact. 3 AA districts as well.

Remember, Silver Spring and Bethesda are at opposite ends of the red line. In DC terms, these areas are not close at all.

Just saying wouldn't it be better to split Howard county NE/SW as its kind of a mixed county between DC and Baltimore if you have to split it anyway?