With the news that Washington state may receive a 10th Congressional District, I set out to develop a map that is favorable to Democrats and should lead to a 7-3 delegation split in bad years, and up to an 8-1 split in good years.
Washington has a bipartisan redistricting commission, so massive gerrymanders are off the table. When Washington received a 9th CD, the commission attempted to make the 9th competitive - I expect the same to happen with a 10th CD.
Anyway, this map creates a super-strong Republican seat east of the Cascades, and generally puts each major city in the Western portion of the state in its own district and connects that city with more rural portions of Western and Central Washington. (BTW, partisan data would be helpful here).
WA 1 (Inslee [open]-D) [Blue]
WA 1 still extends across Puget Sound to Kitsap County, but loses Bambridge Island and some Seattle precincts and extends to the eastern most portions of Snohomish County. The Kitsap portion of the District, as well as the western Snohomish portion should keep this District a safe Democratic one.
WA 2 (Larson D) [Green]
WA 2 retains much of its current form - Northwestern Washington. Like it does now, the district extends into Everett. If Larson holds on this year, the District should remain a Democratic hold.
WA 3 (open D) [purple]
WA 3 runs along the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. Inland it includes solidly Lewis County. In many years, this would be a Democratic seat, but control depends on who wins Clark County (and the City of Vancouver).
The coastal counties are more Democratic, and Skamania and Klicikat Counties did vote for Obama in 2008. In 2010 and 2012 this might be a tough hold, but as Vancouver becomes more solidly Democratic, so should the entire CD.
WA 4 (Hastings - R) [Red]
This district encompasses most of Eastern Washington - or at least Yakama and most of the low population counties east of the Cascades. Currently, both WA 4 and WA 5 are about 40-45% Democratic - this district would probably push that number to about 35%.
WA 5 (McMorris-Rogers - R) [Yellow]
While it may not be possible to create a safe Democratic district in Eastern Washington, connecting the Tri-Cities to Spokane may do the trick (to at least elect a Democrat - or make it a swing district). Whitman County voted for Obama and Spokane has two Democratic Senators in Olympia.
WA 6 (Dicks-D) [Teal]
WA 6 connects Olypmia to Kitsap County and extends to the Pacific Ocean. All of these counties are fairly reliable Democratic counties. Fairly in the sense that King, Snohomish, and sometimes Pierce Counties lead the way on Democratic issues in the state.
WA 7 (McDermott - D) [Grey]
Seattle.
WA 8 (Reichert - R) [Lavender]
WA 8 is strongly contested in 2010 by Suzan DelBene. Likely, the 2010 election will depend on how well she does in Pierce County.
To solidify the district, I chose to add several Democratic areas to the district - Renton and Kirkland. To add population to the district, I added the central Washington counties of Chelan and Kittitas. This is an area where I would like more partisan details, but both counties have voted for Democratic presidential candidates in the past.
WA 9 (Smith - D) [Bright Blue]
WA 9 was originally designed as a swing district twenty years ago - but has only been held by a Republican for only 2 years (1995-1997). For this map, it should stay a Democratic seat.
The district goes from the Seattle border to Puyallup and from Puget Sound to east King County.
WA 10 (open) [Magenta]
This new district is a Pierce County district. It includes Tacoma and Gig Harbor - and then races out to eastern Pierce county. This district should be competitive - or leaning Democratic in the worst years.
**Sorry for the quick write-up (I published the Diary before I was ready). Each district is + or - 744 from the ideal population size.
