After a brief hiatus, we are back today with two states to share: North Dakota and South Dakota. Once again the Legislative District Index found itself in presumably Republican territory, but the big question was - are there substantive political differences between these two neighbors?
Both states are currently dominated by massively popular incumbents - South Dakota Sen. John Thune was the only senator up for re-election last cycle to not face a challenger, and former Gov. John Hoeven managed a >50% victory over his token Democratic opposition to claim a seat that Sen. Byron Dorgan had held for two decades.
In addition to being fairly red at the presidential, the states are also known for their surprisingly blue Congressional delegations - it was not long ago that the Democratic caucus included Sens. Dorgan, Tom Daschle, Kent Conrad, and Tim Johnson - after 2012, it may be that only Johnson remains.
So what is happening on the ground in these states, and how do they stack up to the states we've looked at before? Both states feature legislature that use the same districts for both their House and Senate - the only exception being that two South Dakota house seats are divided into individual districts to better assure representation of Native American tribes - those divided districts are noted by the designation "A" or "B" at the end.
