Describe your state legislative district/districts

[jimrtex]

Minnesota Senate districts are simply split in half, which each half being a House district, and labeled the Senate District number and then A or B.

There are currently five Senate districts based around Minneapolis, two in the northern part, three in the south. I'm in district 62, which is also the most Democratic in the state. It's the middle district in south Minneapolis. It basically runs from the edge of downtown down the I-35W corridor to 50th street. The I-35W corridor includes almost all the largely minority neighborhoods in South Minneapolis, and is a pretty diverse area in general. Even the whites are, ranging from some rather affluent ones at the southern edge to the more working class ones around where I live, much like southeast Minneapolis this area is known as the more affordable part unlike the southwest. The resulting culture is an area that has very little in terms of any serious Republican demographics and no precinct has even a notable Republican minority. Contrary to what you might think, this is not the "hipster area" as they are mostly in 61, but does include the classic quirky urban stores, art galleries, etc. Also the smallest district in the state geographically, and thus also the most dense in population. Think a coalition of minorities, working class white liberals, some affluent liberals, and a bit of the young and hipster crew, basically a little bit of everyone. It even includes a predominately Native American housing project! Currently has a black incumbent, his predecessor held the seat for over 30 years, just to show how rigid politics are.

62A is the northern part of it, between roughly Lake Street and downtown. It's the smaller of the two geographically and the most dense in the state, although slightly less Democratic by a point or two than B, probably attestable to B's higher black population. Basically what I said above but moreso, and less affluent, since just about all reasonably affluent areas in 62B, although the residential housing in general is your much smaller homes with no driveways and still backalleys, etc. Also no lakes, a rarity in Minnesota. Also has a lesbian incumbent who was first elected in 1980. Incidentally the only other lesbian in the Minnesota legislature represents 62B.

African American or Somali?  I thought the black areas in Minneapolis were in the northwest, pushing outward toward the Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center? Or is everything on that side of the river considered south?

[jimrtex]

My Florida Senate district (FL-19) is a minority-acccess district including parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties. I live in the Pinellas portion, which is only connected to the Hillsborough portion via water continuity. Crossing the Bay is not necessary to create an African-American district in the region, and appears to have been deliberately drawn this way to protect State Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg). The Pinellas portion splits the city of St. Petersburg, including both the heavily African-American south side of the city (where I live) and some of the older (white-majority) areas bordering Central Avenue and downtown (during segregation, Central marked the line between the white and black sides of town). It also includes the 90%+ white city of Gulfport, for some reason. Major employers on the St. Pete side of the district include Duke Energy, the Tampa Bay Times, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Bayfront Family Health, and Ceridian Benefits Services.

The districts were drawn by the Florida courts. The original district had also gone into Bradenton. The Florida Constitution requires preservation of political boundaries. Inclusion of Gulfport was likely to balance population of either that district or adjacent districts.

[jimrtex]

My Florida Senate district (FL-19) is a minority-acccess district including parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties. I live in the Pinellas portion, which is only connected to the Hillsborough portion via water continuity. Crossing the Bay is not necessary to create an African-American district in the region, and appears to have been deliberately drawn this way to protect State Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg).

The districts were drawn by the Florida courts. The original district had also gone into Bradenton. The Florida Constitution requires preservation of political boundaries. Inclusion of Gulfport was likely to balance population of either that district or adjacent districts.

No, the court selected one of the maps proposed by the plaintiffs in LWV v. Detzner. Several of those maps originally drew an African-American–majority district in Hillsborough, but the plaintiffs did not pursue those maps so as to narrow the focus of the litigation. Compactness is also a priority under Fair Districts, and it's difficult to imagine a less compact district than one that includes a major body of water in order to connect two disparate parts of a metropolitan area.

You can't draw a majority African-American district in Hillsborough.

Narrow the focus of the litigation means that they didn't want to open up the question of whether the district was a VRA district, or might invite intervention by the NAACP.

The current plan has a 33% BVAP and 16% HVAP.

My map with a Hillsborough-only district was 26% BVAP and 33% HVAP.

[jimrtex]

My Florida Senate district (FL-19) is a minority-acccess district including parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties. I live in the Pinellas portion, which is only connected to the Hillsborough portion via water continuity. Crossing the Bay is not necessary to create an African-American district in the region, and appears to have been deliberately drawn this way to protect State Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg).

The districts were drawn by the Florida courts. The original district had also gone into Bradenton. The Florida Constitution requires preservation of political boundaries. Inclusion of Gulfport was likely to balance population of either that district or adjacent districts.

No, the court selected one of the maps proposed by the plaintiffs in LWV v. Detzner. Several of those maps originally drew an African-American–majority district in Hillsborough, but the plaintiffs did not pursue those maps so as to narrow the focus of the litigation. Compactness is also a priority under Fair Districts, and it's difficult to imagine a less compact district than one that includes a major body of water in order to connect two disparate parts of a metropolitan area.

You can't draw a majority African-American district in Hillsborough.

Narrow the focus of the litigation means that they didn't want to open up the question of whether the district was a VRA district, or might invite intervention by the NAACP.

The current plan has a 33% BVAP and 16% HVAP.

My map with a Hillsborough-only district was 26% BVAP and 33% HVAP.

The legislature has relied on outdated data from the 2010 primary—as a result of increased registration and turnout, especially in the Hillsborough portion of the district, you can draw a majority-black seat in Hillsborough alone.

That is not a majority-black seat.