How the maps were made

To show the relative strength of Republican and Democratic candidates in Spokane-area precincts as the Washington Redistricting Commission begins its work, The Spokesman-Review analyzed election results from last year and 2010, the statewide election before the last redistricting took place.

Because the county as a whole trends Republican in most statewide races, the newspaper subtracted Democratic votes from Republican votes in each of the county’s voting precincts for several countywide elections.

For 2020, the newspaper took the average of the margins in the presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, setting aside the votes for third party candidates; the U.S. House race between Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dave Wilson; the gubernatorial race between Jay Inslee and Loren Culp; the Secretary of State race between Kim Wyman and Gael Tarleton, the only race a Republican won statewide; the Insurance Commissioner race between Mike Kreidler and Chirayu Patel, the only statewide race that a Democrat won in Spokane County; and the closest county commissioner race between Josh Kerns and Ted Cummings.

For 2010, there was no presidential election, so the newspaper took the average of the margins of the U.S. Senate race between Patty Murray and Dino Rossi, the U.S. House race between McMorris Rodgers and Darryl Romeyn, the county commissioner race between Al French and Bonnie Mager and the county treasurer race between Rob Chase and Skip Chilberg.

Because of population shifts, the boundaries of some precincts changed over the last decade, so the individual precinct averages can’t always be directly compared. The city boundaries for Spokane and Airway Heights grew through annexation.