Lines · Call the Map

How the maps were drawn

11 maps, one set of rules, no human hand on the lines

The building blocks

Every alternative district is assembled from whole 2020 Census voting districts — 187,560 of them, block groups in California, Hawaii, Oregon and West Virginia — with their 2020 population and voting-age population by race, as packaged by Dave’s Redistricting. Seats follow the 2020 apportionment, the same 435 on the ballot this year.

The rules every map obeys

Every district is contiguous — each precinct reachable from every other through shared borders — and within 0.5% of its state’s ideal population. Across all 4,785 drawn districts the largest deviation is 0.50%, and half the states’ maps stay within 0.47%. A build step re-checks both rules for every district independently and refuses to publish a map that fails either.

How a computer draws a map

Each map is improved by two kinds of move. ReCom merges two neighboring districts and splits them again along a random spanning tree, exploring very different maps quickly; the first searches kept the best map from each run of ten such moves (“short bursts”). Simulated annealing then moves single precincts across lines to finish the job. Searches start from random legal maps, the enacted map, the other maps and constructed seeds, and the best result wins.

Who holds the pen: the arms race’s rules

In the arms race, every state where one party controls the government — a trifecta, a veto-proof legislature or a governor with no veto over maps — gerrymanders for it, wherever that gains the party seats over today’s map in an even year. It is an all-out escalation, so commissions, courts and constitutional limits stop no one: a party in full control can put its map to voters as an amendment, as California did with Proposition 50 and Virginia’s Democrats set out to do. Only divided governments sit it out and keep today’s map, so each arms-race number measures escalation and nothing else. As of September 2026; one-seat states have nothing to draw.

Republicans hold the pen · 23

Alabama Republican trifecta
Arkansas Republican trifecta
Florida Republican trifecta, overriding the constitution's Fair Districts rule, which has not stopped the 2026 map
Georgia Republican trifecta
Idaho Republican trifecta, overriding the commission that draws today's map
Indiana Republican trifecta
Iowa Republican trifecta, overriding the nonpartisan legislative staff who draw today's plans
Kansas Veto-proof Republican legislature
Kentucky Republican legislature overrides the governor by simple majority
Louisiana Republican trifecta
Mississippi Republican trifecta
Missouri Republican trifecta
Montana Republican trifecta, overriding the commission that draws today's map
Nebraska Republican governor and legislature
New Hampshire Republican trifecta
North Carolina Republican legislature; the governor has no veto over maps
Ohio Republican-controlled commission, overriding the constitution's limits, which have not stopped the 2026 map
Oklahoma Republican trifecta
South Carolina Republican trifecta
Tennessee Republican trifecta
Texas Republican trifecta
Utah Republican trifecta, overriding the court-ordered map under the voter-passed independent commission law
West Virginia Republican trifecta

Democrats hold the pen · 15

California Democratic trifecta; Proposition 50 gives the legislature the map through 2030
Colorado Democratic trifecta, overriding the independent commission that draws today's map
Connecticut Democratic trifecta, overriding the two-thirds legislative vote and the state supreme court behind it
Hawaii Democratic trifecta, overriding the commission that draws today's map
Illinois Democratic trifecta
Maine Democratic trifecta, overriding the two-thirds legislative vote
Maryland Democratic trifecta
Massachusetts Democratic trifecta
New Jersey Democratic trifecta, overriding the commission that draws today's map
New Mexico Democratic trifecta
New York Democratic trifecta, overriding the commission and the constitutional ban on partisan maps that courts enforced in 2022
Oregon Democratic trifecta
Rhode Island Democratic trifecta
Virginia Democratic trifecta, overriding the bipartisan commission, which an amendment not yet in effect would bypass
Washington Democratic trifecta, overriding the independent commission that draws today's map

No party holds the pen · 6

Arizona Divided government (Democratic governor); an independent commission draws the map
Michigan Divided government (Republican state House); an independent commission draws the map
Minnesota Divided government; courts draw when it deadlocks
Nevada Divided government (Republican governor)
Pennsylvania Divided government
Wisconsin Divided government (Democratic governor)

Partisanship: the 2024 presidential vote

Partisanship is the 2024 presidential vote, precinct by precinct. In the nine multi-seat states whose 2024 precinct returns are not yet in that package (Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon and Pennsylvania), each 2020 precinct result is carried forward by its own county’s actual 2020-to-2024 swing.

Whole precincts, and how districts are numbered

Whole precincts cannot balance districts to the single person, as enacted maps do by splitting census blocks. Anyone adopting one of these maps would finish that last step at block level.

Each drawn district carries the number of today’s district it shares the most people with, so a district that stays where it is keeps its name. Where two would claim one number, the numbers go the way that keeps the most people under their own; any left over are given north to south.

Shape limits

Shape limits keep a goal from buying its result with tentacles. Every drawn map but the straight-line, county-line and centered maps, whose goals are geometric, may cut at most a set multiple of the precinct borders a typical no-goal map of its state cuts: 1.2 times for the proportional map, 1.3 times for the durable gerrymanders, 1.5 times for town and country, twice for slices, 1.5 times for the competitive map and twice for the aggressive gerrymanders. The proportional, durable, competitive and aggressive maps may also split at most 1.2, 1.3, 1.5 and 2 times as many counties as a typical map. A typical map’s count is the middle one among the state’s neutral maps below, borders and county splits each ranked on their own; every state has an even number of those maps, and the limits use the higher of the two middle counts. Nothing was tuned state by state or drawn by hand.

Contiguity, smoothing and the pinch rule

Every district’s land is joined by land borders, with water crossings only to reach islands, on every map this edition redrew. After the search, district borders were smoothed with each map’s published numbers held, on 393 of the 395 state maps this edition searched again; the other 2, searched again under the land or pinch rule, are not smoothed yet. Straight lines is a fixed procedure and is not smoothed, though in Massachusetts 86 precincts were moved to meet the pinch rule below. Where joining a district’s land changed a published number, the updates below say so.

A pinch rule is being added: no district may hang together by a single land border shorter than 1 km with 1% or more of its people beyond it, since a district joined only through a narrow neck reads as two pieces on the map. The last searches took every state map with a neck, straight lines aside, and searched it again under the rule, and drew the centered map under it; 217 of the published state maps are their results. Georgia’s town and country map is still round 5’s: its search under the rule left it with more necks. The proportional maps of Alabama and Washington are still round 5’s: their searches under the rule left them far less compact. 98 such necks remain in 48 state maps: 61 in their results, where they could not remove them, 33 in straight lines, a fixed procedure that is not searched, and 4 in maps still to be searched under the rule. Three are 50 meters or narrower with 5% or more of the district beyond it. A state’s close-up names its own.

Contiguity is a condition of every map here, ahead of its goal. A district is contiguous when all of its land is connected over land: its precincts touch along a shared land border of positive length, a precinct drawn as several polygons is counted polygon by polygon, with open water joining nothing. The only crossings of water are the ones enacted maps need too: to land that no land border joins to the rest of its state, such as an island, a detached shore like Virginia’s Eastern Shore, or a peninsula reached only by a bridge like Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A land mass with fewer people than a district goes to one district, across water its precincts and that district’s are neighbors over in the precinct data, and every crossing is listed: 1,749 of them, across 242 state maps, to the 159 land masses of 17 states (a land mass is 1 km² or more, or an island with water all around it). The list also holds 132 precinct fragments under 1 km², holding 67,074 people in all: pieces of precincts that lie against their neighbors but are drawn apart from them in the source shapes, so no land border can be measured. Each is kept with a district beside it (1,452 such attachments over all maps). A state’s close-up lists its own. The redraw first checked this on whole precincts and let a precinct that is all water join the shore on either side, so districts could be drawn in pieces; 233 state maps were repaired, and where a repair cost a map seats, compactness or a neck, the map keeps the repair. Every district of all 484 state maps is one piece of land.

An even year, by default

Every map is drawn for, and shown in, an even year: a national environment of zero, the way FiveThirtyEight’s 2018 Atlas read districts by their lean relative to the nation. Trump carried the 2024 two-party vote by 1.6 points in these precincts, so an even year moves every district 1.6 points toward the Democrats. A map that splits seats fairly should then come out near 218 to 217. The slider moves the national environment, the same House margin our forecast publishes, with presets for the 2024 result and our forecast; each point of environment moves a district about 0.73 points from its 2024 presidential margin, as our forecast does.

A district’s chance comes from its lean through one curve fitted to our own House forecast (edition of 2026-09-19), whose spread is 7.2 points; at the forecast’s environment the curve reproduces its 229 expected Democratic seats on today’s map within a seat (229.8). It is an average relationship, not a race forecast: it knows nothing of candidates, incumbents or local polls — the full forecast for today's map is 233 Democratic seats as of 2026-10-10.

The no-goal test

For each of the 44 multi-seat states, a ReCom chain drew 2,000 contiguous maps within 1% of equal population and with no goal at all (Hawaii’s two districts were instead split 240 times independently); 23,202 of these maps, spaced through each chain, form the comparison. Such ensembles are how courts and scholars now judge whether an enacted map is an outlier. They describe what neutral rules tend to produce — they are not a claim that any single neutral map is the fair one.

Two kinds of gerrymander

Durable is the gerrymander a legislature would pass and defend: as many districts as it can where the drawing party leads by at least 12 points in an even national year, seats that survive a 12-point wave against it, on lines no more ragged and no more county-splitting than 1.3 times a typical neutral map’s. Aggressive takes the most seats that hold as long as the party does not lose the national vote by more than 6 points, on lines no more than twice as ragged or county-splitting as a typical map’s, keeping majority-minority districts at today’s count where its search could and otherwise paying no heed to the courts: 10 of Virginia’s 11 seats for Democrats, 15 of Illinois’ 17, 37 of Texas’ 38 for Republicans. It is a ceiling rather than a map a court would let stand. After the seat count, both maximize the party’s expected seats across national swings of up to 10 points either way, so a losing district is drawn as close as the votes allow. Every state was searched with several different methods and scored by one published scorer; each map is the best any of them found.

Fair maps: proportional and competitive

Proportional makes each state’s expected seats track its own vote with at most 1.2 times a typical neutral map’s border length and county splits, the map a good commission might draw. Competitive makes as many true toss-ups as it can, districts within a point of even in an even national year, then draws every other district as close as the votes allow, within 1.5 times a typical neutral map’s border length and county splits. That is the map’s goal, and its “within a point” figure counts it. Rhode Island’s competitive map lost its one district within a point when its limits became strict, at most two split counties; it now has none.

The competitive count

The competitive count beside every map is a wider band, the same on all of them: a district is competitive when each party has at least a 1-in-6 chance of winning it, and likely Democratic or likely Republican past that. In an even year that is every district within 7.0 points of even; the slider moves the band with the national vote. Districts are colored by how close they are: purple near an even chance, turning blue or red as one party pulls ahead, mostly purple within about three points of even and nearly all party color by nine.

The definition is FiveThirtyEight’s. Its 2018 Atlas counted competitive districts as the “number of districts in which both parties have at least a 1-in-6 chance of winning” and colored each district by its “chance of being represented by either party”. Its methodology drew the line at a Cook PVI between D+5 and R+5, where “both parties have at least an 18 percent chance of winning these seats”, with chances “based on how often seats with a given Cook PVI elected members of each party between 2006 and 2016”. Those were long-run chances, over good and bad years for each party, so its band was wider, about 10 points of margin either way. Ours is the chance in one election at the national vote the slider sets, so the same 1 in 6 falls at 7.0 points. Until October 5, 2026 this page drew the line at a 1-in-4 chance, 4.9 points.

The five geography maps

The five geography maps use no voting data, only people, land, precinct borders and counties. Straight lines is Warren Smith’s shortest splitline: each state is cut again and again with the shortest straight line that divides its people in the right ratio, a line whose sides would not hold together by land passed over for the next shortest, and afterwards only the fewest precinct moves join stray pieces and balance population. Town and country makes each district as alike inside as possible in how densely its people live, so cities, suburbs and the countryside each get their own districts; slices does the opposite, giving every district the same mix of city and country, cut outward from each big metro; county lines splits the fewest counties, then keeps its borders short. In Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington it was searched county by county, whole counties at a time, so its lines follow county lines. Centered (called Circles until October 5, 2026) puts every district’s people as close as it can to the district’s own population center: districts grow outward from population centers until they balance at equal population, then precincts move to shorten the average distance further, and a last polish shortens the borders while keeping that distance within 1%. It is built from whole precincts and held to the contiguity rules, so its districts are tight but not round, and it crosses county and town lines freely. People live 20.4 miles on average from their district’s center on it, against 25.4 on today’s map and 22.4 to 37.1 on the others; by that distance it is the tightest map in every state. Its goal is that distance, not the shape of its districts: its compactness score is 0.48 nationally against 0.33 for today’s map, but it scores below today’s map in Florida and Indiana. Still the previous edition’s maps, not yet replaced by this one: town and country in Montana. An earlier search had grown seven geography maps from the proportional or competitive map (straight lines in Colorado, Nevada and West Virginia, town and country in Iowa, slices in Connecticut and West Virginia, county lines in West Virginia); all seven were redrawn from starts that use no votes.

What is new since 2018

FiveThirtyEight’s original Atlas drew its maps by hand on 2010 geography and scored them with the Cook PVI. This edition is drawn by algorithm on 2020 geography, scored with 2024 returns through a curve fitted to our 2026 forecast, lets the reader move the national environment, draws safe-seat and opportunity-seat gerrymanders, runs an arms race by who actually controls each state, adds fair maps and maps scored on geography alone, measures the efficiency gap and median seat, tests every enacted map against thousands of goal-free maps, and publishes every map as a shapefile, GeoJSON and exact precinct assignment.

Towns and the Voting Rights Act

Round 5’s search kept each map’s goal and its county splits, then kept towns whole: the fewest Census places of 5,000 or more people split between districts, then the fewest pieces they are cut into, then, in the 13 states where townships and New England towns are local governments, the fewest of those split, and only then the shortest borders. The gerrymanders and the proportional and competitive maps also had to keep at least today’s number of districts where Black, Hispanic or all minority voting-age residents together are a majority (round 4’s number where that was already lower); every one holds it. Six stay below today’s count because round 4’s map already was: Arizona’s durable Republican map; Louisiana’s durable Republican and proportional maps; Michigan’s proportional map; Ohio’s aggressive Democratic and competitive maps. The proportional maps of Arizona, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin are still round 4’s and are not held to the floors: round 5’s were far less compact and split more counties and towns. These counts use a 50% voting-age threshold and are not a legal analysis.

Towns split and majority-minority districts, national totals for each map
Map	Places split	Pieces	Towns split	Black majority	Hispanic majority	Minority coalition
Today's map	—	—	—	5	38	117
Durable R	802	1743	352	6	37	129
Aggressive R	976	2127	479	9	38	131
Durable D	1000	2194	425	8	38	142
Aggressive D	1081	2362	476	5	39	138
Proportional	1472	3147	503	6	35	134
Competitive	899	1984	422	6	40	129
Straight lines	1621	3491	581	7	23	118
Town and country	2573	5502	1058	6	21	129
Slices	2106	4673	1079	2	21	115
County lines	728	1566	259	6	24	119
Centered	1159	2467	342	5	24	119

Places: Census 2020 places of 5,000 or more people whose precincts fall in two or more districts, and the pieces they are cut into. Towns: townships and New England towns split, in CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT, NY, NJ, PA, MI, WI, MN and OH. Majority: districts where the group is 50% or more of the voting-age population; a minority coalition where non-Hispanic white adults are under half. Today’s map is measured from its published district shares, so its town counts are not given.

These are illustrations of trade-offs, not proposals. No map here is drawn to satisfy the Voting Rights Act: the gerrymanders and the proportional and competitive maps keep a floor of majority-minority districts where their search could, counted at a 50% voting-age threshold, which is not a legal analysis, and the aggressive gerrymanders otherwise pay no heed to the courts; the majority-minority count is not the same as the VRA’s legal test. Maps for today’s 2026 lines come from the states; their districts are measured here with the same data as the alternatives.

Downloads

Every map, in the formats mapmakers use

Every map exactly, as one table: each 2020 voting district and the district it belongs to in all 11 maps — the file redistricting tools import. Each map also comes as a shapefile of its 435 districts (NAD83 longitude/latitude, about 250-meter detail, with population, deviation, race shares, 2024 margin and the Democratic chance in an even year); a single state’s map as GeoJSON is one click on its close-up above. Free to use and share under CC BY-SA 4.0; not to be sold.

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Every map above is free to download, redraw and argue about. The one map nobody has drawn yet is the district where this site pays for itself.

Each was drawn by computer from 187,560 voting districts, and none of it sits behind a paywall or an ad. If it earned you a coffee’s worth of insight, you can send one back. Donations buy gratitude, never a map.

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Inspired by FiveThirtyEight’s The Atlas of Redistricting (2018; Aaron Bycoffe, Ella Koeze, David Wasserman and Julia Wolfe). Data: U.S. Census Bureau; Dave’s Redistricting (vtd_data, CC BY-SA 4.0); the Voting and Election Science Team (CC BY 4.0); the Redistricting Data Hub. Methods: ReCom (DeFord, Duchin and Solomon, 2021); short bursts (Cannon, Goldbloom-Helzner, Gupta, Matthews and Suwal, 2022); GerryChain (MGGG Redistricting Lab). The code that drew every map is in scripts/atlas/ of the Call the Map repository.

Updates

October 8, 2026District colors now say how close a seat is.

Purple is kept for the close seats: a district stays mostly purple within about three points of even, is about halfway to its party's color at five, and is nearly all blue or red by nine. Until today the whole competitive band was one flat purple, so a seat with an 83-in-100 chance looked like a coin flip. No map, chance or count changed; a district is still counted as competitive when each party has at least a 1-in-6 chance.

October 5, 2026The page now counts a district as competitive the way FiveThirtyEight's 2018 Atlas did: when each party has at least a 1-in-6 chance of winning it.

A seat is likely Democratic or likely Republican when that party wins more than five times in six. Until now the line was a 1-in-4 chance. The chance is this page's own, for one election at the national vote set on the slider, so in an even year the competitive band is every district within 7.0 points of even, where it was 4.9. FiveThirtyEight's chances were long-run ones, over the elections of 2006 to 2016, and its band was wider: a Cook PVI within 5 points, about 10 points of margin. No map was redrawn, and no district's chance and no map's expected seats changed: only where the lines between likely and competitive fall. The competitive map's goal is still districts within a point of even, 235 of them, and its own figure counts those. The aggressive gerrymanders are drawn to seats that lean their party's way by 6 points, inside the new band, so many of their seats now read as competitive rather than likely: they hold in an even year and fall in a bad one. Districts are now colored on one continuous scale by chance, as the Atlas's were, in place of nine steps: purple across the competitive band, running out to blue and to red as a seat becomes certain. Every map, as likely D / competitive / likely R seats in an even year, before and after: Today's map 190/31/214 → 180/47/208; Durable R 143/24/268 → 141/28/266; Aggressive R 127/9/299 → 125/29/281; Durable D 274/18/143 → 273/23/139; Aggressive D 308/6/121 → 275/39/121; Arms race, durable 196/19/220 → 195/25/215; Arms race, aggressive 199/13/223 → 196/27/212; Republicans only, durable 172/31/232 → 166/42/227; Republicans only, aggressive 166/28/241 → 159/46/230; Democrats only, durable 214/19/202 → 209/30/196; Democrats only, aggressive 223/16/196 → 217/28/190; Proportional 192/53/190 → 179/86/170; Competitive 100/237/98 → 98/240/97; Straight lines 191/49/195 → 181/74/180; Town and country 195/50/190 → 183/76/176; Slices 180/66/189 → 159/110/166; County lines 177/54/204 → 164/82/189; Centered 173/69/193 → 169/92/174. The entries below state their counts under the 1-in-4 line, as they were published.

October 5, 2026The map called Circles is now called Centered.

Its districts are not circles: it puts every district's people as close as possible to the district's population center, building from whole precincts under the contiguity rules, so its districts come out tight but not round, and on the page's compactness score it is below today's map in Florida and Indiana. The map, its numbers, its files and its links are unchanged. The entries below call it Circles, as they were published.

October 4, 2026Contiguity is now a condition of every map, ahead of its goal: a map with a district in pieces is not a valid map, so its numbers follow the valid map rather than the other way round.

A district is contiguous when all of its land is connected over land: its precincts touch along a shared land border of positive length, a precinct drawn as several polygons is counted polygon by polygon, and open water joins nothing. The only crossings of water are to land that no land border joins to the rest of its state (an island, a detached shore such as Virginia's Eastern Shore, a peninsula reached only by a bridge such as Michigan's Upper Peninsula); such a land mass, when it has fewer people than a district, goes to one district, and every crossing is listed on the state's close-up and in the data. The redraw had checked this on whole precincts and let a precinct that is all water join the shore on either side, so a district could hang together only through a precinct whose own shape is in several pieces, or through open water, and be drawn in pieces. It showed in Ohio's 10th under the aggressive Democratic gerrymander, where about 7,000 people near Dayton sat apart from the rest of the district, and in Cleveland's and Toledo's districts, joined through Lake Erie. Counted under the standard, 796 districts in 233 of the 484 drawn state maps were in more than one piece, and 2,212 of the 2,758 extra pieces held fewer than 100 people. 233 state maps were repaired: first by moving the fewest precincts that make every district whole, then, where that cost a map seats or a Voting Rights Act district, by searching the map again for its goal under the standard. Every repair is within the population tolerance and holds its Voting Rights Act floor. Every district of all 484 state maps is now one piece of land. 1,749 crossings, across 242 state maps, are to the 159 land masses of 17 states; the list also holds 132 precinct fragments under 1 km², holding 67,074 people in all: pieces of precincts that lie against their neighbors but are drawn apart from them in the source shapes, so that no land border can be measured, each kept with a district beside it. A state's close-up names the land masses and counts the fragments. Virginia's and Washington's straight-lines maps, drawn before on the full precinct adjacency, are held to the same standard, and Staten Island, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the other land masses smaller than a district are no longer shared between two districts. In Ohio's aggressive Democratic map every one of its 15 districts is now one piece of land, at 10 Democratic seats. The state maps whose goal count changed, before and after (a gerrymander's seats at its bar, the competitive map's districts within a point of even, county lines' county splits): Georgia Aggressive R 13 → 12; Pennsylvania Aggressive R 14 → 13; Iowa Durable D 1 → 0; Florida Aggressive D 13 → 12; Georgia Aggressive D 11 → 10; Georgia Competitive 10 → 12; New York Competitive 15 → 16; Colorado County lines 5 → 6; Tennessee County lines 4 → 6. Longer searches found no contiguous map that keeps the seats lost; the Republican aggressive map now holds 299 seats at R+6 nationally, below the 300 it was drawn to reach. Necks across all maps, before and after: 120 → 98, in 59 → 48 state maps; Aggressive R 7 → 2; Durable D 7 → 6; Competitive 4 → 3; Straight lines 31 → 33; Town and country 33 → 20; Slices 27 → 22; Circles 1 → 2. Three are 50 meters or narrower with 5% or more of the district beyond it: Florida's straight-lines and town and country maps and Michigan's slices map. A narrow land neck is contiguous; each state's close-up names its own. Places of 5,000 or more split, and townships and towns split, before and after, where they changed: Durable R 757 → 802 and 359 → 352; Aggressive R 948 → 976 and 453 → 479; Durable D 875 → 1,000 and 406 → 425; Aggressive D 1,004 → 1,081 and 464 → 476; Proportional 1,395 → 1,472 and 474 → 503; Competitive 840 → 899 and 392 → 422; Straight lines 1,579 → 1,621 and 578 → 581; Town and country 2,502 → 2,573 and 887 → 1,058; Slices 1,873 → 2,106 and 971 → 1,079; County lines 666 → 728 and 238 → 259; Circles 1,124 → 1,159 and 324 → 342. Several repaired maps are also less compact than the maps they replace. Black-, Hispanic- and coalition-majority districts that changed, before and after: Aggressive R 8/39/129 → 9/38/131; Durable D 8/38/141 → 8/38/142; Aggressive D 5/38/137 → 5/39/138; Proportional 6/35/133 → 6/35/134; Competitive 5/39/132 → 6/40/129; Straight lines 6/23/119 → 7/23/118; Town and country 6/21/128 → 6/21/129; Slices 2/22/115 → 2/21/115. Every map still holds its floor. Every national number that changed, as likely D / competitive / likely R seats in an even year, before and after: Aggressive R 126/7/302 → 127/9/299 (301 → 299 seats at R+6); Durable D 273/19/143 → 274/18/143 (271 → 270 seats at D+12); Aggressive D 310/6/119 → 308/6/121 (310 → 308 seats at D+6); Arms race, durable 195/20/220 → 196/19/220; Arms race, aggressive 197/14/224 → 199/13/223; Republicans only, aggressive 164/29/242 → 166/28/241; Democrats only, durable 213/20/202 → 214/19/202; Proportional 193/53/189 → 192/53/190; Competitive 102/235/98 → 100/237/98 (232 → 235 within a point); Straight lines 191/50/194 → 191/49/195; Town and country 194/52/189 → 195/50/190; Slices 180/64/191 → 180/66/189; County lines 176/55/204 → 177/54/204; Circles 172/70/193 → 173/69/193. Today's map, Durable R, Republicans only, durable and Democrats only, aggressive are unchanged nationally. The standard, the repairs, the searches and the adoption table are docs/lines/redraw-round8 in the Call the Map repository.

October 2, 2026Every state map that still had a neck under the pinch rule was searched again, the held maps included, as were the last maps still descended from a vote-drawn map or still the previous edition's.

A result was published only if it is legal, has fewer necks and no more severe ones, keeps its goal (its seat count, or within 0.01% of its score), is no more than 0.01 less compact and holds its Voting Rights Act floor, with the two exceptions below; 16 state maps changed. Necks across all maps, before and after: 143 → 120, in 67 → 59 state maps; Durable R 2 → 1; Aggressive R 14 → 7; Durable D 12 → 7; Aggressive D 7 → 3; Proportional 10 → 5; Competitive 5 → 4. Three remain 50 meters or narrower with 5% or more of the district beyond it: Florida's and Ohio's town and country maps and Washington's slices map; Georgia's competitive map lost its own. Connecticut's and West Virginia's slices maps were redrawn from their county-lines and straight-lines maps alone, so no map here descends from a vote-drawn map any more; Connecticut's is held to the compactness bar every redrawn map meets rather than the retry rule, since the map it replaces was grown from a vote-drawn one. By the owner's choice, Virginia's county-lines map no longer joins a district across water: it splits 7 counties where the previous edition's split 3 by crossing the Chesapeake, and Circles is now the tightest map in every state. Mississippi's town and country map is this edition's; Montana's stays the previous edition's, which scores slightly better on its own goal. The proportional maps of Indiana and Michigan, held before, are replaced. Places of 5,000 or more split, and townships and towns split, before and after, where they changed: Durable R 753 → 757 and 359 → 359; Aggressive R 1,090 → 948 and 455 → 453; Durable D 863 → 875 and 406 → 406; Aggressive D 976 → 1,004 and 461 → 464; Proportional 1,404 → 1,395 and 474 → 474; Competitive 843 → 840 and 392 → 392; Slices 1,869 → 1,873 and 966 → 971; County lines 684 → 666 and 238 → 238. Black-, Hispanic- and coalition-majority districts that changed, before and after: Aggressive D 5/38/139 → 5/38/137; Proportional 6/35/132 → 6/35/133; Competitive 5/39/133 → 5/39/132. Every map still holds its floor. Every national number that changed, as likely D / competitive / likely R seats in an even year, before and after: Aggressive R 127/6/302 → 126/7/302; Aggressive D 310/7/118 → 310/6/119; Arms race, aggressive 198/14/223 → 197/14/224; Republicans only, aggressive 165/28/242 → 164/29/242; Democrats only, aggressive 223/17/195 → 223/16/196; Competitive 102/234/99 → 102/235/98; County lines 175/56/204 → 176/55/204. Today's map, Durable R, Durable D, Arms race, durable, Republicans only, durable, Democrats only, durable, Proportional, Straight lines, Town and country, Slices and Circles are unchanged nationally. This round was drawn in the Lines cloud session with the earlier rounds' own tools; its searches, adoption table and checks are docs/lines/redraw-round7 in the Call the Map repository.

October 1, 2026The state maps that still had necks after the last update were searched again under the pinch rule, and 76 state maps changed.

Necks across the ten maps, before and after: 266 → 142, in 129 → 66 state maps; Durable R 8 → 2; Aggressive R 30 → 14; Durable D 28 → 12; Aggressive D 20 → 7; Proportional 17 → 10; Competitive 10 → 5; Straight lines 31 → 31; Town and country 63 → 33; Slices 52 → 27; County lines 7 → 1. The same four remain 50 meters or narrower with 5% or more of the district beyond it: Florida's and Ohio's town and country maps, Georgia's competitive map and Washington's slices map. Every other neck left is in a map the search could not free of it, in straight lines, a fixed procedure that is not searched, or in a held map: the proportional maps of Michigan and New York, still round 4's, and Georgia's town and country map, which stays round 5's because its search left it with more necks. The proportional maps of Alabama, Indiana and Washington stay round 5's: their searches under the rule made them far less compact for one or no fewer necks. Four maps searched under the rule are published as their search left them, without the smoothing step: Florida's and Mississippi's aggressive Republican maps, California's proportional map and Indiana's town and country map. A new map, Circles, puts every district's people as close as possible to the district's population center, after FiveThirtyEight's algorithmic compact map, and uses no voting data. People live 20.4 miles on average from their district's center on it, against 25.4 on today's map; it is the tightest map in every state but Virginia, where the county-lines map, which still joins a district across water, is 0.2 miles tighter. In an even year it reads 172/70/193, splits 1,124 places of 5,000 or more and has 5/24/119 Black-, Hispanic- and coalition-majority districts. Places of 5,000 or more split, and townships and towns split, before and after: Durable R 746 → 753 and 357 → 359; Aggressive R 1,085 → 1,090 and 456 → 455; Durable D 865 → 863 and 404 → 406; Aggressive D 984 → 976 and 462 → 461; Proportional 1,448 → 1,404 and 501 → 474; Competitive 849 → 843 and 403 → 392; Straight lines 1,579 → 1,579 and 578 → 578; Town and country 2,546 → 2,502 and 935 → 887; Slices 1,836 → 1,869 and 941 → 966; County lines 682 → 684 and 238 → 238. Black-, Hispanic- and coalition-majority districts that changed, before and after: Durable R 6/37/130 → 6/37/129; Aggressive R 7/39/130 → 8/39/129; Durable D 8/38/139 → 8/38/141; Competitive 5/39/132 → 5/39/133; Slices 2/22/116 → 2/22/115; County lines 6/23/119 → 6/24/119. Every map still holds its floor. Every national number that changed, as likely D / competitive / likely R seats in an even year, before and after: Durable R 143/23/269 → 143/24/268; Aggressive R 127/4/304 → 127/6/302 (303 → 301 seats at R+6); Arms race, aggressive 197/14/224 → 198/14/223; Republicans only, aggressive 164/28/243 → 165/28/242; Competitive 102/233/100 → 102/234/99 (231 → 232 within a point); Town and country 196/50/189 → 194/52/189; Slices 181/63/191 → 180/64/191; County lines 178/55/202 → 175/56/204. Today's map, Durable D, Aggressive D, Arms race, durable, Republicans only, durable, Democrats only, durable, Democrats only, aggressive, Proportional and Straight lines are unchanged nationally. The state-by-state tables are round6/REPORT.md on the lines-redraw-results branch of the Call the Map repository.

September 30, 2026A pinch rule is being added: no district may hang together by a single land border shorter than 1 km with 1% or more of its people beyond it, since a district joined only through a narrow neck reads as two pieces on the map.

This update searched the state maps with the narrowest necks again under it; 89 of them changed and are published, and 2 came out the same. Georgia's town and country map stays round 5's: its search under the rule left it with more necks, not fewer. Necks under the rule across all maps, before and after: 1,393 → 266, in 182 → 129 state maps; Durable R 22 → 8; Aggressive R 82 → 30; Durable D 125 → 28; Aggressive D 114 → 20; Proportional 44 → 17; Competitive 58 → 10; Straight lines 32 → 31; Town and country 271 → 63; Slices 628 → 52; County lines 17 → 7. Four remain 50 meters or narrower with 5% or more of the district beyond it: Florida's and Ohio's town and country maps, Georgia's competitive map and Washington's slices map. Each state's close-up names its own necks, and the rest of the maps with necks will be searched under the rule next. Massachusetts' straight-lines map is Smith's procedure adjusted for the rule, 86 precincts moved. Three maps searched under the rule are not smoothed, because their smoothed versions were not kept: Florida's and Mississippi's aggressive Republican maps and California's proportional map. Connecticut's and West Virginia's slices maps were searched again, but the redraw's records do not yet show that their starting maps used no votes, so they are still named as descended from a vote-drawn map. Places of 5,000 or more split, and townships and towns split, before and after: Durable R 736 → 746 and 346 → 357; Aggressive R 915 → 1,085 and 455 → 456; Durable D 860 → 865 and 411 → 404; Aggressive D 983 → 984 and 482 → 462; Proportional 1,455 → 1,448 and 501 → 501; Competitive 867 → 849 and 396 → 403; Straight lines 1,598 → 1,579 and 601 → 578; Town and country 2,867 → 2,546 and 1,135 → 935; Slices 2,498 → 1,836 and 1,087 → 941; County lines 714 → 682 and 238 → 238. Black-, Hispanic- and coalition-majority districts that changed, before and after: Durable R 6/37/133 → 6/37/130; Aggressive R 8/39/133 → 7/39/130; Durable D 8/38/136 → 8/38/139; Aggressive D 5/38/137 → 5/38/139; Proportional 6/35/131 → 6/35/132; Competitive 5/39/129 → 5/39/132; Town and country 6/21/127 → 6/21/128; Slices 3/23/114 → 2/22/116; County lines 6/23/120 → 6/23/119. Every map still holds its floor. Every national number that changed, as likely D / competitive / likely R seats in an even year, before and after: Durable R 143/24/268 → 143/23/269 (261 → 262 seats at R+12); Aggressive R 126/6/303 → 127/4/304; Durable D 273/18/144 → 273/19/143; Arms race, durable 195/19/221 → 195/20/220; Democrats only, durable 213/19/203 → 213/20/202; Proportional 193/54/188 → 193/53/189; Competitive 103/230/102 → 102/233/100 (226 → 231 within a point); Town and country 193/55/187 → 196/50/189; Slices 180/66/189 → 181/63/191; County lines 178/56/201 → 178/55/202. Today's map, Aggressive D, Arms race, aggressive, Republicans only, durable, Republicans only, aggressive, Democrats only, aggressive and Straight lines are unchanged nationally. The state-by-state tables are round6/REPORT.md on the lines-redraw-results branch of the Call the Map repository.

September 30, 2026Every map was searched once more to keep towns whole: after each map's goal and its county splits, the fewest Census places of 5,000 or more people split, then the fewest pieces, then the fewest townships and New England towns split, and only then the shortest borders, on 387 state maps; straight lines is Smith's procedure as before.

The proportional maps of Arizona, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin are still round 4's: round 5's were far less compact and split more counties and towns, so they are not held to the floors below. Places of 5,000 or more split, and townships and towns split, before and after: Durable R 1,879 → 736 and 605 → 346; Aggressive R 2,319 → 915 and 782 → 455; Durable D 2,034 → 860 and 629 → 411; Aggressive D 2,491 → 983 and 772 → 482; Proportional 1,635 → 1,455 and 492 → 501; Competitive 2,300 → 867 and 752 → 396; Straight lines 1,464 → 1,598 and 601 → 601; Town and country 3,014 → 2,867 and 1,188 → 1,135; Slices 2,796 → 2,498 and 1,180 → 1,087; County lines 1,217 → 714 and 323 → 238. Proportional is the one map that now splits more townships and towns than before. The gerrymanders and the proportional and competitive maps were held to Voting Rights Act floors, at least today's number of Black-, Hispanic- and coalition-majority districts in each state, or round 4's where that was already lower. Every map holds its floor; five state maps stay below today's count because round 4's map already was: Arizona's durable Republican map, Louisiana's durable Republican and proportional maps and Ohio's aggressive Democratic and competitive maps. Black-, Hispanic- and coalition-majority districts that changed, before and after (today's map 5/38/117): Durable R 5/25/121 → 6/37/133; Aggressive R 6/23/119 → 8/39/133; Durable D 4/25/127 → 8/38/136; Aggressive D 3/26/126 → 5/38/137; Proportional 6/21/130 → 6/35/131; Competitive 1/26/122 → 5/39/129; Straight lines 6/22/117 → 6/23/119; Slices 3/23/112 → 3/23/114; County lines 5/24/118 → 6/23/120. Every national number that changed, as likely D / competitive / likely R seats in an even year, before and after: Durable R 140/21/274 → 143/24/268 (265 → 261 seats at R+12); Aggressive R 123/6/306 → 126/6/303 (306 → 303 seats at R+6); Durable D 272/21/142 → 273/18/144 (268 → 271 seats at D+12); Aggressive D 308/6/121 → 310/7/118 (308 → 310 seats at D+6); Arms race, durable 191/22/222 → 195/19/221; Arms race, aggressive 195/12/228 → 197/14/224; Republicans only, durable 170/32/233 → 172/31/232; Republicans only, aggressive 163/27/245 → 164/28/243; Democrats only, durable 211/21/203 → 213/19/203; Democrats only, aggressive 222/16/197 → 223/17/195; Proportional 189/59/187 → 193/54/188; Competitive 104/234/97 → 103/230/102 (227 → 226 within a point); Straight lines 183/57/195 → 191/50/194; Slices 181/64/190 → 180/66/189; County lines 177/54/204 → 178/56/201. Today's map and Town and country are unchanged nationally. Straight lines is now Smith's shortest splitline in every state: in California, Hawaii, Virginia and Washington it runs on every precinct border, water included, by the owner's choice, so districts there may connect across water, and California's is adjusted for contiguity (407 precincts moved). County lines is now this edition's map in every state but Virginia; town and country is still the previous edition's map in Mississippi, Montana and Oklahoma. Correction: West Virginia's slices map, counted in round 4 as redrawn from starts that use no votes, had been smoothed from the vote-drawn map again, as the redraw's own notes record; like Connecticut's, it is named as still descended from a vote-drawn map until it is redrawn. The state-by-state tables are round5/REPORT.md on the lines-redraw-results branch of the Call the Map repository.

September 29, 2026District lines were smoothed on all 371 maps this update searched again, the smoothing itself holding every number.

County lines was redrawn at the county level, so its lines follow county lines, in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington; its borders were smoothed in 13 more states, and in the other 22 it is still the previous edition's map for now, as is Town and country in Mississippi, Montana and Oklahoma. The aggressive gerrymanders and the competitive map were redrawn on reasonable lines, within 2 and 1.5 times a typical map's borders and county splits. The earlier versions are retired. Straight lines is Warren Smith's shortest splitline again in all but four states: California, Hawaii, Virginia and Washington. Some districts no longer reach across open water; where the land rule forced a map to be searched again, its numbers changed. Every national number that changed, as likely D / competitive / likely R seats in an even year, before and after: Durable R 142/19/274 → 140/21/274 (266 → 265 seats at R+12); Aggressive R 121/3/311 → 123/6/306 (311 → 306 seats at R+6); Durable D 273/20/142 → 272/21/142 (266 → 268 seats at D+12); Aggressive D 312/5/118 → 308/6/121 (312 → 308 seats at D+6; Montana's map lost its D+6 seat); Arms race, durable 193/20/222 → 191/22/222; Arms race, aggressive 196/13/226 → 195/12/228; Republicans only, durable 171/31/233 → 170/32/233; Republicans only, aggressive 162/27/246 → 163/27/245; Democrats only, durable 212/20/203 → 211/21/203; Democrats only, aggressive 224/17/194 → 222/16/197; Competitive 94/248/93 → 104/234/97 (242 → 227 within a point); Straight lines 177/57/201 → 183/57/195; Town and country 194/54/187 → 193/55/187; Slices 187/60/188 → 181/64/190; County lines 175/57/203 → 177/54/204. Today's map and Proportional are unchanged nationally. State by state, districts moved between lean bands in the Durable R map in 9 states, Durable D in 6, Proportional in 8, Town and country in 14, Slices in 12 and County lines in 8 (the County lines maps of California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Washington and Wisconsin now count a different number of districts in some lean bands); Straight lines changed in 33 states as the new procedure. The state-by-state table is round4/REPORT.md on the lines-redraw-results branch of the Call the Map repository, and every state's new numbers are in its close-up above. Districts are now numbered after the current district they mostly replace.

Lines: the U.S. House redrawn 11 ways, from gerrymanders to fair maps