This is part two in my series looking at the political effects of what would happen if Appalachia were to become a state. The previous section discussed the region itself as well as the statewide impact on the remaining states. This part and part three will look at congressional redistricting in those states, as well as Appalachia, by using maps drawn with Dave’s Redistricting App, and partisan political data.
First a few notes; you can find the framework for my alternate reality scenario in part 1, but to summarize who would control redistricting, Democrats would have control in Maryland, Republicans would have control in Appalachia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Alabama, while the remaining states would have court-drawn or non-partisan maps. Holding true to this, I tried to follow actual maps that were consistent with this situation, such as gerrymanders of Maryland and Ohio. I also tried to keep the district numbering coherent with the previous map from each state, though obviously some renumbering had to occur. Furthermore, there are obviously multiple ways these maps could be drawn, but I will offer my rationale for my chosen map as well as alternates in a few cases. Finally, all PVI’s listed refer to 2008 only, unless otherwise noted.