We have some smart mappers here. But one thing I haven't seen much of are 8-0 maps of Maryland that don't involve throwing parts of Prince George's County into an Eastern Shore–based district, an aspect of the dearly departed "Option 2" that led to it being abandoned by Gov. Martin O'Malley's redistricting advisory committee.
I endeavored to draw such a map. Like my most recent 7-1 proposal, it sends a district across the Bay Bridge, but it only does so to keep the Annapolis metropolitan area together. I also created a third minority-majority district.
Here's the statewide view. As this is an 8-0, communities of interest weren't of primary concern to me, but I did my best with them and I think I even found a couple new ones that the current map certainly doesn't recognize (nor does the O'Malley proposal).
MD-01 (blue): Rep. Andy Harris (R) - 52.4% Obama, 45.7% McCain
Harris doesn't live here (note that the district hugs the Baltimore Beltway north and west of the city), but this district is where most of his constituents ended up. Unfortunately for him, it drops many of the more conservative suburbs and exurbs in Baltimore and Harford counties in favor of picking up more liberal suburbs, both white- and black-dominated. I don't imagine black legislators from Baltimore County would love this arrangement, but there aren't many of them to oppose it. Its PVI is roughly EVEN, but Baltimore County is turning blue, and Eastern Shore Democrats are happy to vote for one of their own. The ideal candidate here, geopolitically, would be a populist white Democrat from Cecil County, like State Rep. David Rudolph. I doubt Frank Kratovil would run because he's currently pursuing a judgeship.
MD-02 (green): Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D) - 55% Obama, 43.1% McCain
Ruppersberger gets a wild district here, spanning from the Susquehanna River in the northeast to Wheaton in Montgomery County, at the outer edge of the Washington, D.C., Metrorail system. Its actual overlap with the current incarnation of the district is pretty limited, but the power base of the district remains in Baltimore, where Ruppersberger is well-connected and popular. He could certainly face a primary challenge from a Montgomery County Democrat, but with the bulk of this district's Democratic primary voters in the Baltimore metropolitan area, I see him fending it off pretty handily. In the general election, he should be pretty safe, considering how decimated the Republican Party's infrastructure is in both Montgomery County and the Baltimore area. Harris lives here, and he could run in this district, but even if he shuts Ruppersberger out in Harford County, I don't see him playing in Howard or Montgomery counties at all.
MD-03 (purple): Rep. John Sarbanes (D) - 55.3% Obama, 42.9% McCain
I kind of love this district. It's at once substantially familiar to Sarbanes while including a lot of new territory that shouldn't be threatening at all in a Democratic primary, nor difficult to overcome in a general election. It includes virtually all of the Annapolis area, including Kent Island in Queen Anne's County (which exists in a weird grey area between being part of the Annapolis suburbs and part of the Eastern Shore, to which the rest of the county irrefutably belongs), and even takes in all of Calvert County, a conservative cousin to the more populous Anne Arundel County that covers the peninsula extending from the latter county's south. Sarbanes is no stranger to Anne Arundel County, and he would have continuity with a lot of his current constituents under this map. This sets him up nicely for a statewide run by introducing him to other parts of the county as well as Southern Maryland while remaining entirely safe for him as long as he makes the usual rounds south of Baltimore City.
MD-04 (red): Rep. Donna Edwards (D) - 81.1% Obama, 18% McCain [54.8% black-majority VAP]
Could I have brought the Obama numbers for some of the other districts up a little by unpacking Edwards's base of black voters in Prince George's County and eastern Montgomery County? Yes. At the risk of upsetting her? Hell no. Edwards may or may not succeed in blocking the implementation of the governor's map, but she wouldn't have much to gripe about here. She doesn't have to deal with as much new territory in Anne Arundel County as under O'Malley's proposal, and she gets a few precincts in Montgomery County, which may or may not be sufficient to satisfy the mewling over how Montgomery County won't be set up to elect a minority representative if Democrats draw an aggressive map. Who knows if she'd make a fuss over this, but since this district is approximately D+∞ and heavily black, with few unfamiliar Democrats, she really shouldn't.
MD-05 (yellow): Rep. Steny Hoyer (D) - 64.8% Obama, 34.1% McCain [49.6% white-plurality VAP]
I know, I know, I split the Eastern Shore. But so did Option 2, and that wasn't the element that got legislators' panties in a wad. Hoyer is totally safe in this district, which is nicely set up to elect a black Democrat upon his retirement. He keeps most of his beloved Southern Maryland, only losing Calvert County, and gains the Lower Shore, as traditionally defined (Wicomico, Somerset, and Worcester counties). He also keeps the appendage up into the Green Line suburbs in Prince George's County, with its extremity being the University of Maryland campus in College Park. Even if it means Hoyer occasionally has to venture out to Ocean City, he should be pleased with this district.
MD-06 (teal): Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R) - 55.7% Obama, 42.6% McCain
Poor old Bartlett would be best served to just hang up his ill-fitting suit and call it a career under these lines. This district is substantially similar to the MD-06 in the governor's proposal, though it avoids the problematic splitting of the I-270 community of interest in Montgomery County, leaving Gaithersburg, Rockville, and almost all of Germantown outside the district. It smothers Republican voters in the Panhandle and rural Washington and Frederick counties with Democratic-friendly suburbanites as far south as Takoma Park and Brookmont. A Connie Morella type could win here, but that breed of Republican is virtually extinct, and the Republican Party's infrastructure in Montgomery County is in tatters, as the Ehrlich/Kane campaign's failed strategy of pinning their hopes on a strong showing there vividly demonstrated. I don't think State Sen. Robert Garagiola lives here, but he could run here; Montgomery County Democrats almost certainly outnumber Democrats elsewhere in the district and would likely dominate any primary.
MD-07 (orange): Rep. Elijah Cummings (D) - 77.7% Obama, 20.8% McCain [52.2% black-majority VAP]
The second of two Baltimore-area districts to plunge down into the D.C. suburbs for Democratic voters, this district is a good fit for Cummings, who would certainly prefer having to deal with some new voters in the Laurel area and northwestern Anne Arundel County to the comically dedicated racists of Carroll County. Relative to Edwards's district, it sees a more substantial drop in its black population, but that's because Edwards is wont to whine about it and Cummings is just happy to keep his power base in Baltimore City and Catonsville - which he does, emphatically, seeing only minor adjustments in that part of the district. Much of the Laurel area is in the Washington, D.C., media market, and Cummings might have to purchase airtime there, but it's not a big deal and it makes up a relatively small, if black-heavy, segment of the district.
MD-08 (magenta): Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D) - 55.3% Obama, 42.8% McCain
So here's where the comically dedicated racists of Carroll County went. They won't be too upset with a white Democrat, right? As with Sarbanes's district on this map, this district sets Van Hollen up nicely for a future statewide bid, with non-competitive areas in the Baltimore area (comparable to non-competitive Calvert County going to Sarbanes) that won't originate a viable primary challenge but shouldn't be capable of overcoming the huge Democratic voter base in Montgomery County in the general election. Again, a Morella clone could win here, but none is on the horizon, and Van Hollen's fundraising up the I-270 corridor from North Kensington to Germantown should be solid. Garagiola lives here, and if Van Hollen were to run for Senate, he would be a likely replacement.
Thoughts on the map?