Here's a corollary to the lean change map I posted two days ago: the best Democratic performances in Kansas relative to the state over the past twelve years. The patterns are familiar, with Biden having his best relative performance in educated urban Kansas (+also Fniney). 1/6

In three counties, Hillary Clinton's performance was the best of relative to the state. Seward, home to Liberal, stands out the most; it swung 10% to HRC in 2016 with the Hispanic population growth in the area, but then last year it barely budged as Biden slid with Hispanics. 2/6

Examining the rest of Kansas leads to some interesting revelations. The map shows Obama's 2008 coalition was far more resemblant to Biden's than his 2012 one -- Obama had a stronger performance in 2012 with urban minorities, as evidenced by that showing in Wyandotte + Shawnee 3/6

Similarly, there's a salient yellow (Obama 2008 best performance) strip in the middle of Kansas running from the central Southeast to the Northwest. Not coincidentally, that's geographically where Biden saw his best rural + small-town swings. 4/6

There's more evidence of where vestigial democratic support was with the *2012* map, however, best demonstrated with highlighting the rural + small-town counties surrounding Riley and Shawnee, which moved very little to Romney in 2012* and then swung to Trump again last year. 5/6

That vindicates @rudnicknoah's point about Romney being a true aberration for the Midwest and Plains, reverting more educated areas to being redder relative to the state than they were in 2008 and thus letting rurals slide, relatively, to Obama (even if Mitt gained in raw terms).

This lean-centered thread is dedicated to the great
@alexanderao, who turns 22 today; you all must follow him right now.