FL: Allen West Switching Districts

[minionofmidas]

Excellent. Rooney would have held the 18th with ease. West, perhaps not.

[minionofmidas]

What does FL-18 hold? Is it just a redrawn version of the current one? Or is it way down near Martin County? I have not seen the new district maps.

All of Saint Lucie and Martin, and northern PB.

[minionofmidas]

Kinda sh!tty map, and not official yet anyways, but here you go. Includes the northern 23% of the old 22nd.

[minionofmidas]

It would be awesome if West has moved to the one district in Florida where his eccentricity could make the difference between winning and losing.

The one is South East Florida. I think West would be less, not more, electable in Young's illegal gerrymander.

Calling Young's district "illegal" is not a prediction on whether or not it will be struck and redrawn - could happen, could not happen - but merely a statement of fact. It's a risk absolutely worth taking for Republicans though - losing the ability to draw the exact perimeters of what's now numbered the 12th and 15th districts is not something to lose sleep over.

[minionofmidas]

Kinda sh!tty map, and not official yet anyways, but here you go. Includes the northern 23% of the old 22nd.

Better maps:

http://www.flsenate.gov/PublishedContent/Session/Redistricting/Plans/H000C9047/H000C9047_map_fl.pdf

http://www.flsenate.gov/PublishedContent/Session/Redistricting/Plans/H000C9047/H000C9047_map_ec.pdf

http://www.flsenate.gov/PublishedContent/Session/Redistricting/Plans/H000C9047/H000C9047_map_se.pdf

Still not as detailed as you might like.

[minionofmidas]

Allen's old district was gerrymandered to the tee. I don't get why he's running in a district 90 miles away from home. Urban south Florida is different from that stretch between Palm Beach and Daytona.

Also in a district that Obama won, where there are other open McCain CD's in Fla.

Crist has considerable influance in Florida inspite of his defeat in the Senate race.

You do know the asinine shape of West's current district correct??  It took an EXTREME gerrymander to cook that one up.  Problem for the GOP was the voters passed a referendum in 2010 forcing the districts to be compact.  West could have drawn the district himself, and it would not have saved him.

This had nothing to do with what influence Crist did or did not have.  This had to do with the current law in Florida that no longer allows for the extreme of the extreme gerrymanders that happened last time around resulting in that district. 

It's the only R-winnable district including a considerable portion of his old district that could be reasonably drawn, and Tom Rooney was given an offer he couldn't refuse (a safe R district that again includes a considerable portion of his old district) to bow out of this his home turf.
A better outcome for West was, literally, not legally conceivable, and I am fairly certain he did in fact have a hand in drawing it.