PA Senate - compact, proportional
I am writing as a Pennsylvania resident to ask that you enact good, fair maps for the PA Senate. I agree with principles for redistricting advocated by non-partisan groups such as Fair Districts PA: *Roughly equal population (variation no more than 2%) *Compact and reasonably shaped districts. *Somewhat proportional to statewide partisan split (52%D / 48%R), but competitive maps, i.e. mathematically predicted to yield a slight majority for Democrats, but with plenty of competitive seats so that either party could win a majority of seats with good candidates and good turn out. *Minimize the splitting of municipalities, townships, counties, etc. *Maximize the number of majority Black and majority Latino districts. I have drawn the following map that not only follows all of these principles, but it also almost completely avoids pitting incumbents against one another. In the past, incumbents have sometimes been pitted against other incumbents as a way for map drawers to disadvantage their political enemies. And I know members of the Redistricting Commission wish to avoid the appearance of doing this. There are only two instances where incumbents are drawn into another senator’s district. This is the result of moving SD 30 eastward and SD 14 southward in order to account for population shifts in PA. I have also kept the core of most districts the same as before, and that is especially true of odd numbered districts whose senators will not be up for reelection until 2024. PA Senate: https://davesredistricting.org/join/92f6ef6c-239c-4541-8d20-690ee12d2bad I am a part of the Citizen Mapping Corps of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. Please let me know if you have any questions about this map or other maps, and if I may be of service in any way during the redistricting process. Thank you for your consideration, and thank you for your service. Regards, Kris Rust Pittsburgh, PA