Well, what better time to add some levity than to present my own Missouri maps! I'm sure all the 'experts' will have fun with this.
Notice the big difference here? Yes, I decided that it was high time my kin in central Missouri got their own district instead of being chopped up all the time! Naturally both Columbia and Jefferson City had to anchor it, stretching over to Sedalia as well. Once I had the cluster I wanted in the center, I moved to do other districts to get a better idea of where this new CD 04 was going to have to go. I think it turned out pretty well, honestly. But anyway, let's get the two insets for the big cities!
Now with all of this in mind, a few notes:
- I knew a district had to go and figured the old CD 03 had to bite it, although all the districts got moved at least a little bit. That actually worked out the easiest for me.
- I had only a vague idea of where the existing districts were (I did make sure the numbers matched up though) so I didn't have the option on showing me where the old boundaries were. I didn't want to be biased by that.
- No, I was not trying to get rid of either Carnahan or Akin. I paid no attention whatsoever to where the Congresscritters were located. Yes, that makes my maps DOA no matter what other flaws they have, but hell, I've never cared about keeping Congresscritters happy before, why start now?
- I was trying to create a black-majority CD 01. I came pretty close. There just aren't quite enough of them.
- I was trying to create a KC district. I pretty much got that.
- Corner districts were maintained.
- Where possible, I was trying not to split communities of interest and used geography as much as I could to keep them together. Since my knowledge here is not as great as for NM, I relied on the city/town lines somewhat.
District details:
CD 01: Blue St. Louis district. 748,655 pop, Deviation +39, 49.5% Black, 42.3% White, 3.1% Hispanic, 2.6% Asian, 2.2% Other, 0.2% Native. Minority-Majority, although the VAP is skewed toward the Whites. *shrug* Boundaries get a bit jagged because, as I said, I was trying to grab all the Blacks. For the record, the residential segregation in this area is hilarious.
CD 02: Green St. Louis+ district. 748,579 pop, Deviation -37, 89% White, 3.7% Asian, 3.2% Black, 2.4% Hispanic, 1.5% Other, 0.2% Native. I was just wrapping this district around CD 01. Also for the record, there are some odd precincts in the whole St. Louis area. Boundaries with CD 01 jagged for reasons as stated previously. Other county splits caused by population and community of interest concerns.
CD 03: Dark Magenta NE and EC Missouri district. 748,608 pop, Deviation -8, 92.7% White, 2.7% Black, 2.0% Hispanic, 1.4% Other, 1.0% Asian, 0.2% Native. Started in the NE of course, ended up having to shoot southwards to pickup people. County splits caused by population and community of interest concerns (get used to seeing me copy and paste that, because it is true...). CD 09 basically turned into this, but with significant changes in the St. Louis area.
CD 04: Red Central Missouri district. I'm rather proud of this one, even though I'm sure the political powers-that-be would pitch a fit.
748,679 pop, Deviation +63, 87.8% White, 5.1% Black, 3.1% Hispanic, 2.0% Other, 1.6% Asian, 0.4% Native. Continuing from my explanation above, as the other districts took form it became clear that I would need to move CD 04 directly south to vacuum up people. County splits caused by population and community of interest concerns. CD 04 pretty much just moved half a district to the east.
CD 05: The Gold Kansas City district. 748,596 pop, Deviation -20, 65.7% White, 21.7% Black, 8.0% Hispanic, 2.5% Other, 1.7% Asian, 0.4% Native. I had no exact idea of the prior CD 05 boundaries, but I think I just about nailed this one. The city/town lines made me go south instead of across the river, but I'm content with how this turned out. County splits caused by population and community of interest concerns, especially that one weird precinct in CD 06 that crossed the Missouri with 109 people that was vital in getting everything under 100 Deviation.
CD 06: Teal NW and WC Missouri district. 748,568 pop, Deviation -48, 88.9% White, 3.8% Hispanic, 3.7% Black, 1.8% Other, 1.4% Asian, 0.4% Native. Started in the NW, found there wasn't nearly enough population there, gave up some eastern rural counties and swung quite a ways south, wrapping around Kansas City to pick up a lot of the old CD 04 territory down there. County splits caused by population and community of interest concerns.
CD 07: Dark Gray SW Missouri district. 748,624 pop, Deviation +8, 89.8% White, 4.3% Hispanic, 2.2% Other, 1.6% Black, 1.3% Asian, 0.9% Native. Pretty straightforward, the SW district anchored on Springfield, Joplin, and Branson. Overall grew a little bit. County splits caused by population and community of interest concerns.
CD 08: Slate Blue SE and SC Missouri district. 748,618 pop, Deviation +2, 91.8% White, 4.3% Black, 1.6% Hispanic, 1.4% Other, 0.5% Asian, 0.4% Native. Started in the SE, expanded almost to its old boundaries, but lost a few counties to three other districts. The major news, of course, is its move up the Missouri River into a lot of the old CD 03's territory. This had to do with population, honestly - it had to expand, and something needed to sweep up the old southern parts of CD 03. And yes, the county splits were caused by population and community of interest concerns.
I have no idea about the political leanings of this and that other than the obvious bits about the two urban districts voting Democrat and the corner districts voting Republican (I think...) and all that. If anyone wants to figure out the new CD 04's leanings, please post.
Enjoy this while the politicals argue...
