If the Dakota Territory was split east/west rather than north/south

[Del Tachi]

How would the political climate of the two Dakots be different if, instead of being split north and south, the Dakota territory was split east and west - with the Missouri River being the natural place to draw the boundary?

I imagine East Dakota would be consistently Democratic, and would regularly vote send Democrats to Congress and deliver electoral votes to Democratic nominees?

Also, would East Dakota be populous enough to gain another electoral vote?

[TDAS04]

No, East Dakota would still be Republican in presidential elections, but West Dakota would be more Republican.  Native Americans make up roughly 20% of the population west of the Missouri, and would likely provide the bulk of Democratic voters.  I could see politics polarized along racial lines, similar to whites and blacks in the Deep South.

Anyway, West Dakota would be the least populous state.  I'm pretty sure East Dakota would have 4 electoral votes.

[ElectionsGuy]

How would the political climate of the two Dakots be different if, instead of being split north and south, the Dakota territory was split east and west - with the Missouri River being the natural place to draw the boundary?

I imagine East Dakota would be consistently Democratic, and would regularly vote send Democrats to Congress and deliver electoral votes to Democratic nominees?

Also, would East Dakota be populous enough to gain another electoral vote?

For West Dakota to be a state, we would probably need to split it more east of the Missouri River, preferably including Bismark and Minot in North Dakota. With purely the Missouri River as the dividing line, it only has a population of 331,914. The ND portion only has 89,544 people. Overall the portion voted 58.5% McCain, 39.1% Obama. Meanwhile the East Dakota portion has a population of 1,154,857 and votes 51.8% McCain, 46.3% Obama.

If I were to do this, I would shift both borders to the right, gaining significant population in the ND portion and little in the SD portion. Something like this:



(Looking back I probably should've cut off Gregory county).

With this, the east has a population of 920,804 (542,977 from SD, 377,827 from ND) and the west has a population of 565,967 (271,203 from SD, 294,764 from ND) (just 2,000 more than Wyoming). In this case West Dakota would vote about 59-60% McCain (Safe R) and East Dakota would vote around 49-50% McCain (Likely R)

[Gass3268]

While Republicans would win regularly in East Dakota on the Presidential level, local Dems would do really well on the statewide and congressional races. East Dakota would be very Scandinavian and Lutheran, sort of a more conservative and rural version of Minnesota. 

[nclib]

Is it possible to draw an Obama '08 seat in East Dakota with a population comparable to North or South Dakota?

[Cranberry]

East Dakota would probably be more Democratic also on presidential level, as the Democrats would definetly campaign there more.
But yes, locally the Democrats would do very well, similar to Western Minnesota/Northwestern Iowa.

[TDAS04]

While Republicans would win regularly in East Dakota on the Presidential level, local Dems would do really well on the statewide and congressional races. East Dakota would be very Scandinavian and Lutheran, sort of a more conservative and rural version of Minnesota. 

This is true, though things may be getting more partisan.

South Dakota was close enough in 1992 & 1996 that Clinton certainly carried the part east of the Missouri.  I believe that Obama lost East River to McCain by 3 points.

However, Bush & Romney handily carried both sides of the Missouri (even Sioux Falls isn't that liberal).  East Dakota gets even more conservative when the North Dakota part is added, and probably would not have even been carried by Clinton.

[Cranberry]

While Republicans would win regularly in East Dakota on the Presidential level, local Dems would do really well on the statewide and congressional races. East Dakota would be very Scandinavian and Lutheran, sort of a more conservative and rural version of Minnesota. 

This is true, though things may be getting more partisan.

South Dakota was close enough in 1992 & 1996 that Clinton certainly carried the part east of the Missouri.  I believe that Obama lost East River to McCain by 3 points.

However, Bush & Romney handily carried both sides of the Missouri (even Sioux Falls isn't that liberal).  East Dakota gets even more conservative when the North Dakota part is added, and probably would not have even been carried by Clinton.

But again, I don't think he campaigned much in either of these areas, as he knew they would get Republican. If they were split East/West, he would definetely have campaigned more in the East; maybe that would have given him the East. 

[King of Kensington]

Would West Dakota be classified as part of the West or part of the Midwest?

[they don't love you like i love you]

Is it possible to draw an Obama '08 seat in East Dakota with a population comparable to North or South Dakota?

The maps posted above basically would do it.

[TDAS04]

Is it possible to draw an Obama '08 seat in East Dakota with a population comparable to North or South Dakota?

The maps posted above basically would do it.

Come to think of it, it makes sense now considering that Obama outperformed Clinton in eastern ND.