Alternative Districts: Maryland State Senate
Below you'll find my alternative to the Maryland State Senate district map. As with all of my maps, certain criteria are considered including: compactness, coalescing communities of interest including large minority voting blocs, and respecting political boundaries. Recreating the actual map using Dave’s Redistricting App was not practical since too many districts couldn’t be drawn to match exactly, which caused discrepancies that had significant effects on district demographics. The presentation will resemble the previous diary, in which the districts in the regional breakdown will simply include counties, or parts of counties in each district, followed by the district’s Partisan Voting Index. The district numbering keeps to the previous numbering as closely as possible.
Western 1-4
1st: Allegany, Garrett, Washington (part); R+25
2nd: Washington (part); R+11
3rd: Frederick (part); D+7
4th: Frederick (part), Washington (part); R+13
Baltimore Area 5-13, 30-34, 40-46
5th: Carroll (part); R+21
6th: Baltimore (part); R+4
7th: Baltimore (part), Harford (part); R+19
8th: Baltimore (part); R+2
9th: Carroll (part), Howard (part); R+6
10th: Baltimore (part); D+6
11th: Baltimore (part); D+30
12th: Anne Arundel (part), Howard (part); D+9
13th: Howard (part); D+22
30th: Anne Arundel (part); D+9
31st: Anne Arundel (part); R+10
32nd: Anne Arundel (part); R+2
33rd: Anne Arundel (part); D+4
34th: Harford (part); R+1
40th: Baltimore City (part); D+42
41st: Baltimore City (part); D+36
42nd: Baltimore (part); D+8
43rd: Baltimore City (part); D+40
44th: Baltimore (part); D+22
45th: Baltimore City (part); D+34
46th: Baltimore City (part); D+33
D.C. Area 14-29, 39, 47
14th: Montgomery (part); D+10
15th: Montgomery (part); D+19
16th: Montgomery (part); D+28
17th: Montgomery (part); D+25
18th: Montgomery (part); D+28
19th: Montgomery (part); D+28
20th: Montgomery (part); D+38
21st: Prince George’s (part); D+31
22nd: Prince George’s (part); D+35
23rd: Prince George’s (part); D+35
24th: Prince George’s (part); D+46
25th: Prince George’s (part); D+46
26th: Prince George’s (part); D+42
27th: Anne Arundel (part), Calvert; R+8
28th: Charles (part); D+19
29th: Charles (part); St. Mary’s; R+11
39th: Montgomery (part); D+26
47th: Prince George’s (part); D+41
Eastern Shore 35-38
35th: Cecil (part), Harford (part); R+20
36th: Caroline, Cecil (part), Kent, Queen Anne’s; R+14
37th: Dorchester, Talbot, Wicomico (part); R+3
38th: Somerset, Wicomico (part), Worcester (part); R+12
My version of the Maryland State Senate district map improves cohesion of communities of interest while also respecting geographical and political boundaries. This is why the districts appear compact, but more importantly why the overall map is improved. The actual map was drawn by Democrats, which has resulted in their super-majority status. While there are more competitive districts in my version, this state is favorable enough towards Democrats that they would still win large majorities. This is due to the large Black voting bloc in Baltimore and in Prince George’s County, as well as heavily Democratic leaning and densely populated suburban areas like Montgomery County.
Thanks for reading!
The maps were created using Dave’s Redistricting App: gardow.com/…
The charts and data were assembled using spreadsheets via Stephen Wolf’s guide: www.dailykos.com/…
The Statistical Atlas was used to match the district numbering: statisticalatlas.com/…
Google Images aided in determining the regional breakdown
Links to the West Virginia Maps
Alternative Districts: West Virginia State Senate
Alternative Districts: West Virginia State House of Delegates