Kepler
Si certus es dubita
Re: The States. It's 10th Amendment or bust!
To be reasonable just collapse everybody west of the Mississippi river and east of the coastal states (CA, OR, WA) that has fewer than 10 EV.
9 LA
6 AR
7 IA
7 OK
6 KS
5 NE
3 SD
3 ND
5 NM
9 CO
3 WY
3 MT
5 UT
4 ID
5 NV
80 EV minus 26 EV from lost Senate seats = 54 EV, 1 fewer than CA.
Losing 13 states for a new total of 37, the Senate would go to 74 of which this superstate would have 2, just like CA and DE. However it would have 52 House districts.
That is an interesting proposition. Not including Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii, the new state would have more than double the population of California (approximately 80+ million people). The new state would likely increase its representation in the U.S. House (going from 111 Representatives to 112-113 depending on reapportionment), but would lose 36 Senate seats (going from 38 to 2).
EDIT: Continuing with this proposition, and how it would have altered the 2016 Presidential Election - Donald Trump would have won the new state by over 4 million votes, capturing its 114 electoral votes. There would have been only 502 Electoral Votes in this new configuration, meaning Trump would have needed 252 electoral votes to win. Combined with his other victories, Trump would have captured 300-301 (depending on what state lost an electoral vote based on reapportionment) to Clinton's 201-202 (despite winning the popular vote by 3+ million). In other words, it appears that the new state would disproportionately help Republicans even further in the Electoral College. On the plus side for Democrats, they would almost certainly dominate the Senate for the foreseeable future.
To be reasonable just collapse everybody west of the Mississippi river and east of the coastal states (CA, OR, WA) that has fewer than 10 EV.
9 LA
6 AR
7 IA
7 OK
6 KS
5 NE
3 SD
3 ND
5 NM
9 CO
3 WY
3 MT
5 UT
4 ID
5 NV
80 EV minus 26 EV from lost Senate seats = 54 EV, 1 fewer than CA.
Losing 13 states for a new total of 37, the Senate would go to 74 of which this superstate would have 2, just like CA and DE. However it would have 52 House districts.