get roughly the same number of voters in each district. States have different routes to this mostly very politicized for obvious reasons. We had to redistrict Washington state in 2011 because the census results gave us a tenth Congressional seat. Fortunately, Washington has a bi-partisan commission with public input to determine where the lines are drawn. I'm not saying it's perfect, but they were able to do that with a minimal amount of fuss and controversy because the process is transparent. Result? This heavily Democratic state has 6D's and 4R's in the House.

The downside for me personally as a Democrat, is that my district used to include Bellevue and Mercer Island, moderate Republican traditionally but turning blue demographically. It now rather includes, as a part of the compromise on the commission, a much more conservative and rural area spreading east over the Cascades to Ellensburg. Deep red. It'll be hard for a Democrat to win there. For now.

But I have to say, the districts aren't as weird looking as in Alabama, especially their 7th district. There's a reason the 7th looks that way....to get as many black voters in that district as possible. They're not throwing them a bone, they are diluting their votes in the other districts.