Oklahoma was home to one of the most surprising results of the 2018 midterm elections, when Democrats picked up a deeply Republican district in the heart of the state.
So when this year’s redistricting process rolled around, Republicans in the Oklahoma state legislature took care to ensure such an upset would be far less likely in the coming decade.
That meant parceling out the state’s most populous county, the Democratic-trending Oklahoma County, to three different districts to diffuse the region’s burgeoning Democratic voter base.
The result is a map that should elect five Republicans to five congressional districts without much difficulty for the coming decade.
1st District
Republican Kevin Hern’s 1st District remains dominated by Tulsa County, which was 81 percent of the old district and 85 percent of the new district. Because the old 1st was larger than its target population, the district shed all of Washington County and the eastern half of Wagoner County to the 2nd District, losing its distinctive stovepipe shape in the process. It also picked up the city of Sapulpa from the 3rd District.
The partisanship of the district is largely unchanged. Under the old lines it voted for President Donald Trump 60-37 percent in 2020. Under the new lines it would have voted for him 59-38 percent.
Hern, a wealthy McDonald's franchisee, won his last two general elections by 31 and 18 points, respectively, and doesn’t look to be in any danger in a primary either. Democrats John Swoboda, a school teacher, and Adam Martin, a recent graduate of Oklahoma State, are running. Solid Republican.
2nd District
The 2nd is still the entire eastern portion of the state, and remains home to the largest Native...