I've been thinking about how to do a Dem gerrymander of Washington without making it look like a Dem gerrymander, and accomplish a couple of goals: first, to create a majority minority district in south Seattle/south King county; second, to chip away at Dave Reichert's support and untangle the 9th and the 8th from their odd embrace; third, shunt as much of red Lewis county as possible into a third district that has to take in 150k people from east of the Cascades. Most importantly, it retains every incumbent in the same district, except for Inslee, who is running for governor. The results are as follows:
District 1
The new first district pulls out of Kitsap, due to the gubernatorial run by Jay Inslee. Instead, it has morphed into a south Snohomish/east King county seat. It is less Democratic than the old 1st, with it's 2010 senate numbers -4.6% Murray. However, Inslee won 58-42 in 2010, so a Dem should still be able to hold on to this seat.
District 2
This one retains most of its character from before. It loses a bit of south and east Snohomish county, but retains Everett, in order to bolster its blue - Rick Larsen only won 51-49 in 2010. +.4% Murray
District 3
This is the big loss for dems. After Brian Baird decided to pull out of the 2010 race, the reactionary Jamie Herrera-Beutler took over this swing district. I've taken advantage of the red shift to move this district into the lower Yakima valley and exurban tri-cities, while keeping Clark and my unfortunately red Lewis counties in the fold. Its western border runs along 1-5 from Carrols (south of Kelso) up to Chehalis/Centralia, where it picks up a couple thousand red voters on the west side of the freeway to fill out its total. Probably a loss for the dems, but still within striking distance on a good D year (Baird took 64% in 2008) -4.0% Murray
District 4
Picks up Okanagan and Ferry counties from the 5th, but retains its red-roots. -.4% Murray
District 5
Almost the exact same district we've come to know for the last ten years. Gives up Okanagan and Ferry to the fourth, and loses up a bit more of Adams around Hatton/Washtucna. Still pretty reliably red, but makes some headway, +.3% Murray.
District 6
Loses all of the Olympic peninsula, but picks up all of the Kitsap peninsula (including the part of Mason county where Norm Dicks lives), and more of Pierce county, including Lewis/McChord. This is a good fit, given his position as the ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, and he is easily able to give up his -1.1% Murray after winning 58-42 in 2010.
District 7
This one gets changed quite a bit. It moves from Seattle/Vashon to north-Seattle/north-east side, also picking up Mercer. Surprisingly, losing all those minority voters in south Seattle, and picking up the Bothel/Kirkland set only drops the %Murray by about 7.5% - leaving this still an incredibly safe seat for McDermott. The only question is whether the district's appendage into the Mt. Baker neighborhood quite reaches his house, but that can be taken care of at the margins.
District 8
The 8th actually ends up covering nearly all the same territory, merely contracting out of the far north, east, and south of the old 8th. It now runs from the southern half of Lake Sammamish down along SR900, 169, 18, the valley freeway, and 512 to Parkland, taking in the surrounding area as it goes. Reichert is in trouble, losing ground by going -1.5% Rossi in a district he only won 52-48 in 2010.
District 9
This is the fun one. The new ninth has pulled out of Thurston county altogether, and most of Pierce as well. It also picks up south and west-Seattle and Renton, in order to cobble together a 52% minority district. It contains all of north Tacoma that the old 9th did, so Adam Smith should still be in-district. It also moves from a mere lean-D to a full-on Democratic stronghold, picking up 15 percentage points in the 2010 senate race.
District 10
The one everyone's been waiting for. The new 10th is an effort to really give the rural coast and SW Washington a bit of clout. It also takes in outlying Pierce county, running along SR 702 and Orville Road to Orting and Buckley. It's a lot better fit for Denny Heck, being +3.8% Murray compared to the old 3rd, where he lost 47-53.
The whole map