In a quest to gerrymander every Republican possible out of a House seat, the crew at Swing State Project has been playing around with dream scenarios for Democratic redistricting. Their latest project is NYC Metro, which really only means finding a way to slice-and-dice up the only Republican seat left in the metro area, the 3rd District seat held by Rep. Peter King in Nassau County.
Blogger and would-be gerrymander JSmith has proudly created “a map that completely destroys Peter King’s NY-3 district and [puts] him on the unemployment line.” In this model, the current 3rd anchored in Massapequa is reassigned to cover the neighborhoods of the East Bronx, Astoria and Williamsburg. The East Bronx, you might remember, was the most Democratic district in the nation in ‘08.
With the rubble of King’s old 3rd, JSmith creates a jigsaw puzzle of interlocking districts that weave across western Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn. In his most egregious example, the blogger makes a district that creeps from Queens Blvd down to Rockaway, and then coasts along the shoreline for 30 miles before jutting up to include Bethpage (light teal). It’s a hatchet job that would make Tom DeLay proud.
[Map credit: Swing State Project]
Nassau and Queens Co:
Bronx and Manhattan:
Brooklyn:
Jay O'Callaghan
3 August 2009 at 12:08 pm
No these gerrymanderers make Tom DeLay’s districting look fair by comparison.
These are the ugliest most unfair districts I have ever seen since I started my involvement in redistricting in 1982.
Another good reason why Democrat activist fingers should be kept away from drawing districts.
During the last redistricting the ugliest districts were drawn in Democrat dominated states like Maryland, North Carolina and GA.
JSmith
1 November 2009 at 7:59 pm
I’m the guy who drew the map above. And I truly believe that the right number of Repub Congresspeople from New York is *zero*.
You heard that right. ZERO!