The goals of this map:
1) Strengthen the weakest incumbents: McGovern, Keating
2) Keep Richard Tisei out of Congress
3) Get rid of Stephen Lynch
4) Get rid of John Tierney
5) Give every other incumbent at least half of their old territory (Frank ended up with 48%, so I didn't quite succeed here, but he's my least favorite in the delegation besides Lynch and Tierney anyway)
And of course: DON'T SPLIT TOWNSHIPS (I split Boston, Watertown, Wilmington, and Billerica, which isn't bad. All of them were for population purposes except Boston)
The end result?
This:
Other than the 3rd (black), it doesn't even look all that ugly.
1st: OPEN (Stan RosenBERG (my bad)?
Main Towns: Pittsfield, Gardner, Fitchburg, Leominster, Chelmsford
This district is open, so it's not really that important whether the territory is new or not, but by trying to keep Tsongas and Neal happy, I ended up giving probably 3/4 of Olver's territory to the new 1st.
This district loses 4.7% of security, but it's still Safe D.
2nd: Richard Neal (D)
Main Towns: Springfield, Chicopee, Agawam, Northampton, Southbridge, Holyoke, West Springfield
Neal gets 2.4% safer, not because he needed it, but because MA-1 needed to lose some territory in order to absorb less blue territory elsewhere. It'll be Safe D even when he retires. The Springfield area is now unified as well. 74% of his district is familiar territory.
MA-3: Jim McGovern (D)
Main Towns: Worcester, Marlborough, Fall River, Attleboro
McGovern keeps a decent amount of territory, 65%. However, to keep him safe (I boosted him by 1.7%, which should be enough), he adds the other half of Fall River and an arm that includes Sharon, Randolph, and not so Dem territory in between. The district is required to be ugly since the Dem strength is relatively spread out here, being concentrated in a few urban areas. This is the best I could do.
MA-4: Barney Frank (D)
Main Towns: Taunton, Brockton, New Bedford, Barnstable
Barney Frank will have to move if he wants to remain in Congress. This district is 48% Frank territory, and with his money, that should be enough. He could also call it quits. This district is 5.3 points worse for him, so I'd rate it Likely D.
MA-5: OPEN
Main Towns: Newton, Waltham, Needham, Norwood, Framingham, Burlington, Sudbury, Franklin, Norfolk
This new, Safe D district (it's 3 points better than the old 2nd, but 4 worse than the old 4th) is a good place for a progressive. If Setti Warren doesn't have skeletons in his closet, he could be successful here.
MA-6: Niki Tsongas (D) vs. John Tierney (D)
Main Towns: Lowell, Lawrence, Methuen, Haverhill, Gloucester, Salem, Beverly, Concord, Amesbury
Tsongas has a 59-41 advantage over Tierney in terms of territory, so I'd say a primary would Lean Tsongas, which is good because she's a better candidate, and Tisei is strong. This district is 0.8 % better than her old district and 2.3% better than Tierney's old district, so I'd say it's Likely D but Leans D with Tisei against Tierney.
MA-7: Ed Markey (D)
Main Towns: Peabody, Lynn, Woburn, Medford, Everett, Revere, Lexington, Saugus, Belmont, Arlington
Markey keeps 59% of his territory, enough to fend off any primary challenger, but drops 5% of Dem safety. He might actually have to campaign once in a while, but probably not.
MA-8: Mike Capuano (D)
Main Towns: Boston, Somerville, Cambridge, Brookline, Watertown, Chelsea
Capuano loses over six points of security, which matters everywhere except in this district. I gave much of Lynch's Irish base to this district, as it's much more likely to vote for a non-progressive than the African American population of Boston. Brookline should fit in fine here.
MA-9: Stephen Lynch (D) vs. Bill Keating (D)
Main Towns: Quincy, Weymouth, Plymouth, Milton, Duxbury
Advantage Keating here. He has a slight majority of the territory, while Lynch has only 24%. All the light green territory on the South Shore shown here is from Keating.
So there we go. We should have 8 progressives and one Richie Neal.