Rationale:
New York is losing two seats.
When losing more than one seat, New York tries to split the difference between political parties. Last time, Rep LaFalce (D) was merger with Rep. Slaughter (D), and Rep Gilman (R) lost out. I merged two Democrats and two Republicans. I think the Democrats will want to keep Rep. Hochul and the rest of their Upstate delegation, and I think the GOP will want to keep Rep. Turner and the rest of their NYC/Long Island delegation. So, that makes six seats to preserve upstate and three to preserve downstate.
Furthermore, this has meant one Upstate and one Downstate seat. In the 2000s, one came from Western New York and the other from the lower Hudson Valley. This time, it is one in the Lower Hudson Valley and one in Long Island. I have discovered that for me to be truly satisfied with a map (i.e., I like the lines), I need to merge Rep. Gibson and Rep. Hayworth together. I know this means the lower Hudson Valley has lost representation since the 2000s redistricting, but I see no clean-looking way of dropping an Upstate seat. You can argue, though, that Central New York lost a representative, but either Hayworth or Gibson loses out, because I removed Gibson’s loop around Albany. That is the way I see it. The other seat comes from Long Island. This area has had population for 5 seats since the 1990s redistricting, but it no longer does. Four seats fit nicely here, and so I merger Rep Ackerman with Rep. McCarthy. Amazingly, NYC loses no representation, so it keeps the same number of representatives as it had in the 1990.
All seats are within 100 of ideal. I think I’ve done a solid job, after putting VRA in, of keeping communities of interest in tact.
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