If this isn't the right board for this, please feel free to move it.
How can we gerrymander the states (for either R or D) by combining the 48 contiguous states into 24 pairs of adjacent states? For example, here's one way to arrange them:
There are probably many other arrangements, although this is the only one I created. (If you attempt this, start with New England; there's only one way it works.) Using the following rules:
1. Combined states must share a land/river border that is more than a single point. So combinations like Utah-New Mexico and Michigan-Minnesota are not allowed. Delaware + New Jersey is OK.
2. Each new combined state votes exactly as its constituents did in the 2020 presidential election.
3. A combined state has as many representatives as its two parts, but only two Senators. As a result, there will be a total of 490 electoral votes.
4. Alaska, Hawaii, and DC don't get combined with anything.
The questions are:
a) What's the most Democratic gerrymander that can be created?
b) What's the most Republican gerrymander that can be created?
