US House Redistricting: Utah

[dpmapper]

Utah:

Northern:


Southern:


Salt Lake County:


Utah is so red that there really is no need to concede a district to Matheson.  This is my attempt to knock him out - his eastern Salt Lake City base is drawn into a district (in white) with Davis, Morgan, Rich, and Cache counties (all basically 70% or more McCain).  I also put half of Weber in there, but made sure to leave out Ogden proper (which has a fair number of Hispanics and academic types).  The portion of Weber that is in the district is probably close to 70% McCain then.  If we assume that the SL City  part of the district went 60-40 Obama and the Salt Lake County part was 50-50, then my rough calculations put the district at 62-63% McCain, compared with 58% previously.  I suspect I'm underestimating the McCain percentage in the SLC areas (I put all Hispanic areas in CD1 and CD3 - in fact, CD2 is only 7% Hispanic) so that might be even higher.  

Chaffetz and Bishop are still safe for the GOP, of course, as is the open seat.  Bishop's district is technically contiguous, but to get from his home up north to the parts in Salt Lake or Utah counties without leaving the district, you have to go off-roading west of the lake.    

[dpmapper]

The only reason Matheson didn't lose this year was because the Republican nominee was a pathetic loser, and Matheson still only ended up winning by 4.5%. A decent candidate would've taken him out.


Splits up Matheson's share of Salt Lake County between a Happy Valley-based district and a district that stretches up to the north. Either way Matheson would be screwed, since he's not known to voters in the north part of the state, and the Happy Valley will not vote for a Democrat ever.

Agreed; that was basically the premise of my map.  Although yours also has the quirk that  Park City liberals will be represented by Jason Chaffetz.   

What was pathetic about Philpot, might I ask? 

[dpmapper]

http://www.redistrictutah.com/maps/sb3002s17


These cracks keep getting better and better.

I don't understand the current iteration with Daggett, Duchesne, and Uintah attached to the Ogden district. There's no connection across the Wasatch, and I'm missing the political advantage, if any.

I'm guessing it has to do with removing Moab and the Navajo from Matheson and replacing them with more of Davis County.  As a bonus, it unites the entire Wyoming border CoI!