US: House Redistricting Massachusetts

[muon2]

I would guess that the South Shore/Cape district will become MA-1 now that Olver is retiring. Members usually want to keep their numbers, and 1 will be the free number to replace MA-10. With that assumption, I'd assume that all other districts will keep their current numbers and most of their core area.

I also wonder if Olver's district may be split more than the posted maps suggest. For instance, The Route 1 corridor from Leominster west through Franklin county could as easily be attached to MA-5 instead of MA-3. The rest of Olver's district could go to MA-2 which would then consist essentially of Berkshire, Hampden, and Hampshire counties. That leaves MA-3 as a district in southern Worcester county with some area from Middlesex, perhaps Framingham.

The other issue will be whether the legislature creates a Bristol plus Brockton district as some local reports seem to desire. I only see that happening if Frank is willing to represent a district without his Newton/Brookline home area.

[muon2]

I would guess that the South Shore/Cape district will become MA-1 now that Olver is retiring. Members usually want to keep their numbers, and 1 will be the free number to replace MA-10. With that assumption, I'd assume that all other districts will keep their current numbers and most of their core area.

I also wonder if Olver's district may be split more than the posted maps suggest. For instance, The Route 1 corridor from Leominster west through Franklin county could as easily be attached to MA-5 instead of MA-3. The rest of Olver's district could go to MA-2 which would then consist essentially of Berkshire, Hampden, and Hampshire counties. That leaves MA-3 as a district in southern Worcester county with some area from Middlesex, perhaps Framingham.

The other issue will be whether the legislature creates a Bristol plus Brockton district as some local reports seem to desire. I only see that happening if Frank is willing to represent a district without his Newton/Brookline home area.

If all three of the above were to come to pass, this map might be the result. The maximum deviation is 784, and no town is split except Boston. The standard DRA color to number scheme applies.

[muon2]

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2011/11/04/tsongas-seat-center-redistricting-standoff/ZuQZENB2TabsWX2LoXnfvJ/story.html

The city of Lawrence has become the latest battleground in the Legislature’s final push to redraw its congressional districts, with US Representative Niki Tsongas, the delegation’s only woman, fighting off a plan by state lawmakers in the House that would take the heavily Democratic community from her district and give it to Representative John F. Tierney.


Why don't they add Revere or Lexington instead of Lawrence to the 6th district?

Perhaps they are leaning in the direction of my map.

[muon2]

Bump for Frank retiring. Thoughts on whether MA-04 will be redrawn more reasonably?

Patrick already signed the map into law. It's a done deal and changing the 4th now would wreak havoc with other districts.

As it turned out after all they could have drawn a Bristol+Brockton district, and left Quincy with Cape Cod in the other SE district.

[muon2]

Boston white liberals try to rack and pack minorities into a single district.


In a letter to the council, which approved a redistricting plan on a 7-6 vote after months of wrangling, Menino singled out District 4 as a source “of particular concern.” In that district, which spans parts of Dorchester and Mattapan, voters of color would constitute 95 percent of the electorate.

Yancey presented a politically progressive map that would have created an incumbent-free district where either a Latino or Asian would have likely prevailed. Yancey has argued that while so-called minorities make up 53 percent of the city’s population, they represent only 26 percent of district seats on the council.




Interesting. White liberals want to claim an excess of the seats.

Not surprising. Chicago was much the same with its ward map last winter. Latinos were largely limited even though they grew while other groups shrunk.