The New Monroe County Landscape, with Maps - updated
Sometimes, looking at the data visually can show things in a way that words and numbers can’t. Itchy and I put together these maps showing the makeup of the villages, towns, and county leg pre- and post- yesterday’s election. The overall picture shows baby steps towards progressives gaining power, since it only shows the 50%+1 required to win a seat. More interesting would be shades of red and blue, which would show the relative closeness of many, many of these races.
First the legend/key to all these maps:
Now the villages. Before and after shows incremental, but notable gains in E. Rochester and Fairport. (Update: villages with non-partisan elections are now shown in yellow.)
Next the towns. Above the like is town supervisor and board, below the line is clerk and justice(s). You can see how Dems consolidated their hold on Irondequoit, held their ground in Gates, and gave the Dem supervisor company on the town board in Mendon. The red, red west suburbs just got a little bluer, with Dunning winning the town super position in Chili, and Dems gaining a town board seat up in Clarkson. That’s right, Clarkson. It’s that lonely blue dude in the upper left hand of the town map there.
Finally the leg races. Of course, the two that changed hands were the 8th out in Webster, and the 6th in Greece. Basically it’s like the Dem city/Brighton/Irondequoit districts annexed Webster and part of Greece.
Baby steps, people. It’s an uphill climb, no doubt. But the good news is we’ve got our hiking shoes on and we’re gaining ground.
How nice it would be to see that big patch of 13 blue in ‘09. Hopefully Henrietta will join Greece and Webster in its trend towards blue.
Great post.
This is a great post, but I need to point out something about the villages. At least in Hilton and Brockport (and maybe others) the Village boards are non-partisan so candidates are not endorsed by any constituted political party and instead run as independents. The mayor in Brockport & I believe at least one member of the Brockport village board are registered Dems, and there is one registered Dem on the Hilton village board - however as I stated these boards are non-partisan so it would not be accurate to show them shaded red or blue, perhaps another color to identify them as non-partisan is appropriate. As for Hiltons village board I must say that they have acted in progressive ways over certain issues, example: The Ben Franklin store in the village couldn’t afford to maintain its property so rather than lose that staple business that has been in the community for years, the Hilton village board purchased the property and became the landlords to the Ben Franklin. A little more than a year later that investment paid bigger dividends when Summit Credit Union moved in and developed the other side of the property thus becoming another tenant of the village. The village also has enacted an electric program that offers discounted rates (public utilities being a very progressive idea in concept and practice) to residents. I believe that Brockport may have some similar examples. My main point however remains the more accurate notation of non-partisan boards where applicable.
Thanks
Great post. Do you think it would be more encouraging if people saw districts 10 and 1 as more purple than red? The elections were so close, I hate to see those big expanses as solid red when they’re much harder to classify than that.
As everyone else has said, great post…you should probably also add the 7th district to those in purple. Part of that district is part of the city, that being part of Charlotte which does tend to push toward the left.
[...] election was a major success for Monroe County DemocratsÂÂ — as our charts show — as much as it pains to admit this.ÂÂ (I’m sorry to see Minarik remain in power [...]
These are the most incomprehensible maps I’ve ever seen. Ever heard of a key? I get all confused at the “red” and “blue” mindset because it’s specifically polarizing and I never remember which color I’m supposed to be. And if you’re trying to show a progression, splitting it between two diagrams is the worst way to show it. Yuck!
The red and blue of course don’t show the political sentiment of a region - they show political control - and that’s exactly what I was trying to show in these two. Control of the legislature.
I’ll create a “purple” map soon, showing the entire county, with divisions smaller than Lej Districts. that will feed the need to see which areas are really tending Democratic instead of which areas were able to elect Democrats.
I may even do a map of change in registration if I can get my hands on the data.
[...] jolshefsky and chad gave some really constructive criticism on the pre & post-election maps we put up the day after the election.ÂÂ Being a news website, we’re not only self-correcting, [...]
[...] 183 hits Trend will continue Saturday November 10th 2007, 8:29 pm Filed under: Uncategorized In today’s D & C (www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071110/NEWS01/711100325) Democratic chair Joe Morelle says the recent trend of Democrats winning in traditionally Republican strongholds will continue in the future. Democratic candidates won all over Monroe County in local races that have changed the political map of our community. (www.rochesterturning.com/2007/11/07/the-new-monroe-county-landscape-with-maps) [...]