50 Equal States

[ElectionsGuy]

I wanted to have some fun, so I started drawing states (that can cross original state boundaries) of equal population. Since 308,745,538/50 = 6,174,911, that will be roughly the size of each state, with a maximum of a 5% range above and below.

1. Everything is based on 2010 census numbers (its just a lot easier that way)
2. Has to be based on counties, not municipalities (in all but one case, NYC which might as well be its own state
3. No county splits (with one exception, LA County because its so huge. As you can see, that and Ventura County I'm still deciding how to do the last two states)
4. I tried my best to create states that have areas of similar characteristics (though in some areas its very hard based on what I've previously drawn, like the tan one in West Texas, south NM and South AZ)
5. All states are contiguos except the one with Long Island (which includes Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia as part of it). This is the one kind of ugly thing I just had to go with.



If you have ideas on how to better clean these up, let me know. I'm not going to modify them a huge amount but if something fits better, I'll change it (i.e. That Eastern Pennsylvania state can look better). Otherwise I'll get right down to the info.

[ElectionsGuy]

I'll start in the Northeast. The geographical description, population, biggest city, and 2012 presidential vote.

State #1: Massachusetts – (Berkshire + Franklin + Hampshire). Population: 6,186,958

Biggest City: Boston (617,594)

Obama: 1,789,118 (59.9%)
Romney: 1,143,401 (38.3%)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #2: Connecticut + Rhode Island + Northern NYC Suburbs. Population: 6,284,662

Biggest City: Yonkers (195,976)

Obama: 1,576,188 (58.7%)
Romney: 1,072,761 (39.9%)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #3: NYC. Population: 8,175,133

Biggest city: NYC (8,175,133)

Obama: 1,995,241 (81.2%)
Romney: 436,889 (17.8%)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #4: Maine + New Hampshire + Vermont + Western Massachusetts + Northern/Eastern Upstate New York. Population: 6,195,190

Biggest City: Syracuse (145,170)

Obama: 1,768,565 (56.4%)
Romney: 1,299,351 (41.4%)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #5: Long Island, NY + Delaware + Eastern Shore of Maryland + Eastern Shore of Virginia (non-contiguous). Population: 6,138,263

Biggest City: Virginia Beach (437,994)

Obama: 1,427,920 (52.6%)
Romney: 1,249,428 (46.0%)

(BTW, if you have a hard time seeing specific counties on the paint map, just ask and I'll tell you which are in which state)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #6: North and Eastern New Jersey. Population: 6,067,838

Biggest City: Newark (277,140)

Obama: 1,460,832 (60.7%)
Romney: 924,081 (38.4%)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #7: Philadelphia and Suburbs + Rest of New Jersey. Population: 6,265,910

Biggest City: Philadelphia (1,526,006)

Obama: 1,851,892 (62.7%)
Romney: 1,071,831 (36.3%)

[ElectionsGuy]

Nice project. Those black states (particularly in the Delta) are very intense on the map, though.

Yeah, I shouldn't have used black on that state. If you notice, I made a yellow outline where DeSoto, MS should be because you can't recolor the counties once they're black. Hopefully we can still know what counties are in it though.

[ElectionsGuy]

State #8: NoVA + DC + DC Suburbs (MD) + Baltimore & Suburbs. Population: 6,151,716

Biggest City: Baltimore (620,961)

Obama: 2,058,643 (70.3%)
Romney: 816,555 (27.9%)

[ElectionsGuy]

I'm wondering how those North Georgia, Mississippi/Louisiana/Arkansas mix, and West Texas vote.

State #9: Northern Georgia. Population: 6,178,895

Biggest City: Atlanta (420,003)

Romney: 1,332,106 (52.6%)
Obama: 1,169,546 (46.2%)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #10: Southeastern Florida. Population: 6,061,832

Biggest City: Miami (399,457)

Obama: 1,514,783 (61.2%)
Romney: 948,099 (38.3%)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #11: Southwestern and Central Florida. Population: 6,218,581

Biggest City: Tampa (335,709)

Romney: 1,495,825 (52.1%)
Obama: 1,349,558 (47.0%)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #12: Northern Florida – Escambia. Population: 6,223,278

Biggest City: Jacksonville (821,784)

Romney: 1,630,812 (54.8%)
Obama: 1,315,230 (44.2%)

[ElectionsGuy]

Some changes. I think it looks much better now.

[ElectionsGuy]

Does this look a bit better?

[ElectionsGuy]

State #13: Alabama + Escambia, FL + Eastern Mississippi. Population: 6,216,325

Biggest City: Birmingham (212,237)

Romney: 1,638,647 (60.8%)
Obama: 1,025,800 (38.1%)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #14: Rest of Mississippi + Louisiana – (Caddo, LA + Bossier, LA + De Soto, LA + Sabine, LA) + South and Eastern chunks of Arkansas. Population: 6,146,096

Biggest City: New Orleans (343,829)

Romney: 1,490,708 (55.4%)
Obama: 1,160,819 (43.1%)

[ElectionsGuy]

And just because this is easy...

State #15: Cook, IL + DuPage, IL. Population: 6,111,599

Biggest City: Chicago (2,695,598)

Obama: 1,687,997 (70.0%)
Romney: 690,588 (28.6%)

[ElectionsGuy]

Here's what I did with LA/Ventura counties. These states will be lesser in population to compensate for NYC being 2 million over. Since I had to go into DRA for this, I can only provide 2008 election data with no third party votes, though both are Safe D so it shouldn't matter too much. I tried to draw everything within municipal boundaries, but as you may be able to tell the precincts don't fit perfectly all the time.

State #16: Los Angeles and its immediate surroundings. Population: 5,201,487

Largest City: Los Angeles (3,792,621)

Obama: 1,250,934 (75.5%)
McCain: 405,676 (24.5%)



State #17: Ventura County + Los Angeles suburbs in LA County. Population: 5,440,436

Largest City: Long Beach (462,257)

Obama: 1,103,752 (62.6%)
McCain: 660,518 (37.4%)



Here's an updated version of the map (with other changes as well):

[ElectionsGuy]

The new Louisiana state is more Democratic than I was expecting

It looks like taking in the delta in southern AR/west MS, plus Jackson, more than cancelled out losing Shreveport.

Basically the most Democratic parts of Mississippi and Arkansas are combined with most of Louisiana, as I tried to make it delta central. Obama just about tied Romney in the Mississippi and Arkansas portions. Its pretty much the new Mississippi, if I had to guess its probably 37-38% black, and its votes exactly like it.

[ElectionsGuy]

I don't like the way NC is done. You split the triad up between two states.

Would you suggest a better alternative? With the way I have it set up (northern Georgia being a state, Florida pretty much being 3 states), its pretty hard not to split that region up. At least Greensboro and Winston-Salem are together.

[ElectionsGuy]

I'm not a fan of the link from Ventura to the Antelope Valley to Long Beach. I'd rather split LA city at the Hollywood Hills. The hills extend east to west and form a natural break across the county. That puts the San Fernando Valley with Ventura, Antelope Valley and the San Gabriel Valley. Southern LA would go with Long Beach and the SE LA county suburbs. The split is very close to even.

While that looks much better than the one I drew, I promised myself I wouldn't split any municipalities. I'll wait to decide what to do with that.

[ElectionsGuy]

State #18: Southern Georgia + Western/Southern South Carolina. Population: 6,183,197

Biggest City: Augusta (195,844)

Romney: 1,334,600 (53.0%)
Obama: 1,155,206 (45.8%)

[ElectionsGuy]

State #19: Western North Carolina + Northern South Carolina + Bits of Eastern Tennessee. Population: 6,153,492

Biggest City: Charlotte (731,424)

Romney: 1,549,514 (56.3%)
Obama: 1,163,372 (42.3%)