Oregon didn't get a sixth House member from the 2010 census, but we didn't lose one either, so our decennial game of redrawing the congressional districts doesn't have a musical-chairs quality to it: no matter the eventual plan that's adopted, none of our current Solons will be left without a seat. (Representatives have to live within their state, but not within their district.)
I read the Democratic and Republican plans with great interest. (You can see maps of the plans, here.) One big difference between the two plans is that the Republicans would like to put all of Multnomah County into District 3 (Congressman Blumenauer's district), and to add most of Columbia County to it. The Democratic proposal leaves Multnomah County west of the river divided between District 1 (David Wu) and District 5 (Kurt Schrader), and tops up District 3 by adding much of Hood River County, half of Columbia County, and a part of rural Clackamas County to the district.
Each plan has its own merits: the Republican plan keeps counties together, and the Democratic plan keeps communities of interest together. Behind the public reasons, however, lies the practical goals of the two parties: the Republicans want to keep all of Multnomah County's Democrats in District 3 so that Districts 1 and 5 become more competitive; the Democrats conversely want to take a few tens of thousands of Democratic voters from Mr. Blumenauer (who doesn't need them) and give them to Messrs. Schrader and Wu, who do.
I thought I would try my hand at redistricting, starting with the 2010 county totals, to see how closely I could follow the county borders and not be too far afield of Baker v. Carr. A few hours' work gave me five equal districts (the largest with only about 900 more residents than the smallest), and with only four counties split between districts. As follows:
District 1: Clatsop, Lincoln, Tillamook, Washington, and Yamhill, plus 11,000 residents from Polk and 18,000 from Columbia.
District 2: Everything east of the Cascades (Baker, Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco, and Wheeler), plus Jackson and Josephine, minus 29,000 residents of Klamath.
District 3: Multnomah County and all but 18,000 residents of Columbia County.
District 4: Benton, Coos, Curry, Douglas, Lane, and Linn, plus 29,000 residents of Klamath and minus 10,000 residents of Benton.
District 5: Clackamas, Marion, Polk, and Wasco, plus 10,000 residents of Benton and minus 11,000 residents of Polk.
Only after I did this work, without census-tract-specific data, did I come across this tool, called Dave's Redistricting. and well worth the visit. It allowed me to map and count the existing districts, census tract by census tract, and to redraw the districts tract by tract. For my second attempt I tried to follow the existing district lines as much as possible, and quickly came up with a plan that mostly follows the existing district lines and in which only 1500 persons (approximately 1/5 of 1%) separate the most populous congressional district from the least. I don't know how to post the map itself (I'll try later), so I'll describe the changes. District 1 gives up south Yamhill County (keeping Newberg and McMinnville) and gets northwest Multnomah County. District 2 gives up west Hood River County and a few small bits of Josephine County near Grants Pass. District 3 gives up northwest Multnomah County and gets west Hood River County. District 4 swaps a few parcels near Grants Pass with District 2, gives up the hilly part of Benton County, and gets some bits of Benton County near Corvallis and a little bit of Marion County between Jefferson and Stayron. District 5 gives up some area north of Albany and Corvallis, loses a little bit of Marion County to District 4, and gets south Yamhill County excluding McMinnville and Newberg. The five districts end up looking much as they do now.
I'm not up to tackling the state legislative districts tonight, or maybe ever, but I stand ready to help the legislature adjust the congressional districts as painlessly as possible.