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Now, now, let’s not be so hasty. I, for one, would welcome a State of Chicagoland that took in not only all of Cook County, IL but also Lake County, IN (Gary, etc.), Lake County, IL, and Kenosha, Racine and Mileaukee Counties in WI (with GOP areas not on the lakefront being given the option of seceding from those counties and remaining in their current states). I’d gladly spot the RATs 12 guaranteed EVs from the State of Chicagoland in return for our 11 safely GOP EVs from the detoxed State of Illinois, 11 safely GOP EVs from the Gary-less State of Indiana, and 9 safely GOP EVs from the Milwaukee-less State of Wisconsin. A 31-12 GOP advantage in EVs from the WI-IL-IN region is a lot better than our 21-20 EV advantage from the area in 2016 (with Trump’s narrow 0.76% victory in WI keeping us from a 30D, 11R EV result) and leagues better than the 42-0 RAT EV drubbing from 2018 (when Obama’s margin in Gary far exceeded his statewide victory margin).
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Good post. But while you’re at it how about the following:

1. Transfer western Maryland’s counties (Carroll County and counties to its west) to West Virginia.

2. Transfer Maryland’s Eastern Shore to Delaware.

3. Give DC back to Maryland as “compensation”.

Result: Maryland stays blue. DC residents get to vote and lose their annoying “Taxation without Representation” license plates. Delaware turns red.

I would rather have Alexandria and Falls Church and Fairfax, Prince William and Arlington Counties in VA join DC and Baltimore and Montgomery, Prince George’s, Charles and Howard Counties (and part of Baltimore County) in MD for a State of New Columbia that would leave the rest of VA and the rest of MD as GOP states. As for DE, I would give its two southern counties to the new MD, but then add Philadelphia and its Dem suburbs in Montgomery, Delaware and Bucks Counties, PA and in Camden County, NJ to the only remaining county in DE (Wilmigton’s New Castle County) to make it a Democrat state that leaves PA as safely GOP.