States That Should Merge

This map of proposed state mergers, which is largely self-explanatory, is pie in the sky, "king for a day" stuff. It isn't politically viable as under the current U.S. Constitution, merging states lose power in the Senate and electoral college which they would almost surely not consent to losing. 

But the suggested state mergers would largely end the imbalances in the current U.S. political system against urban blue states, in a pretty mild way that could make most of the U.S. functional. They also would merge states with similar cultures and political leanings. And, none of the combined states would have excessively large populations even post-merger (Texas and Oklahoma would be big but the two states have so much in common and the combined state would still be smaller than California in population.)

Statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico would also be necessary for a just balance and representation of the people. The one majority black state-like jurisdiction, and the one Spanish speaking state-like jurisdiction, should not be denied representation in Congress and in the case of Puerto Rico, a say in Presidential elections. Even the GOP gives Puerto Rico a say in nominating its Presidential candidate.

The current U.S. Senate balance is 53R to 47D. This would remove twelve GOP leaning seats and the new states might add 2-4 Democratic seats and 0-2 GOP seats, resulting in 41-43 GOP seats and 49-51 Democratic seats. It would also reduce the number of U.S. states to 46 (adding two and removing six).

This exercise also illustrates how much overall results under our constitution depend upon what amount to gerrymandered state lines created historically, mostly in the 19th century.