Heartland
From Usgs
| Capital | Springfield, Illinois |
| Largest city | Chicago |
| Notable Metropolitan Areas | Chicago, IL (split with Appalachia) Detroit, MI Milwaukee, WI Greater St. Louis, IL-MO (split with Mississippi Valley) Grand Rapids, MI Madison, WI Lansing, MI Quad Cities, IL-IA (split with Mississippi Valley Peoria, IL Rockford, IL Kalamazoo, MI Greater South Bend (split with Appalachia) Green Bay, WI |
| Regions | States |
| Illinois | Illinois |
| Great Lakes | Michigan Wisconsin |
| Area | Ranked 7th |
| - Total | 211,202 sq mi (?) km² |
| - % water | (?) |
| Population | Ranked 6th |
| - Total | 27,721,412 |
| - Density | 131.26/sq mi (?)/km² ((?)th) |
| Governor | Elizabeth Wellbourne (D-MI) |
| U.S. Senators | |
| - Illinois | Gregory Wolff (D-IL) Teddy Williams (D-IL) |
| - Great Lakes | Andrew Brockmeier (D-MI) Jason Gillikin (R-MI) |
| Abbreviation | HRT |
| Web site | Heartland Government |
The Superregion of Heartland comprises of single-state region of Illinois and the two-state region of the Great Lakes. Illinois is the largest state, but the Great Lakes have a larger combined population. It is the smallest super-region in terms of number of states (3).
Geographically, the region is essentially composed of the states surrounding Lake Michigan, except for Indiana (which belongs to Appalachia). The Great Lakes region touches Lakes Michigan, Superior, Huron, and Erie (missing only Lake Ontario), making it an aptly named region. However, the term Heartland to describe the superregion is under-inclusive, as states in Appalachia, Mississippi Valley and even Big Sky Country would also fit this description.
Contents |
Adjacent Superregions
- East and South: Appalachia
- West: Mississippi Valley
- North: Canada
Politics
The Heartlands is lean-Democrat overall, with Democrats holding only a 52-48 overall advantage. The Great Lakes leans even more weakly towards the Democrats (51-49), while Illinois is a bit more comfortable (53-47) for Democrats. Politically, Republicans have been able in the past to overcome the bluish tint, and win the Governorship of the Heartlands, as well as winning Senate races in the Great Lakes; to date, however, they have not won any Senate races in Illinois.
Election 2008
Highlights: Max Powers elected Governor, Michael Casmir elected Illinois Senator, and Angela Chiles elected Great Lakes Senator.
Election 2010
Highlights: Andrew Merrilin re-elected Governor, after having ascended to the post upon the resignation of Max Powers. Elizabeth Wellbourne re-elected to the Senate.
Election 2012
Highlights: Senator Gregory Wolff re-elected. Governor Andrew Merrilin runs for and wins the Vice Presidency.
Election 2014
Highlights: Governor Elizabeth Wellbourne, who had become Governor when Andrew Merrilin resigned to become Vice President, while the Lieutenant Governorship was vacant, was re-elected Governor. Senators Williams, Brockmeier, and Gillikin are re-elected.
Election 2016
(Coming soon to a wikitable near you!)
Office Holders
A lot of data is missing from the Governor tables; feel free to start plugging in legislative leaders, Lieutenant Governors, and numbers at the appropriate spots.
| Year | Governor | Lt. Governor | Legislature | |||||||
| Name | Party | State | Name | Party | State | GOP | DNC | Maj. Leader | Min. Leader | |
| 2009 | Max Powers | Republican | Michigan | Andrew Merrilin | Republican | Michigan | ||||
| 2010 | ||||||||||
| Andrew Merrilin | Republican | Michigan | Adam Bishop | Republican | Illinois | |||||
| 2011 | Andrew Merrilin | Republican | Michigan | Adam Bishop | Republican | Illinois | ||||
| 2012 | ||||||||||
| 2013 | Elizabeth Wellbourne | Democrat | Michigan | |||||||
| 2014 | ||||||||||
| 2015 | Elizabeth Wellbourne | Democrat | Michigan | |||||||
| 2016 | ||||||||||
| Senators | ||||
| Year | Illinois | Great Lakes | ||
| Class 2 | Class 3 | Class 1 | Class 3 | |
| 2008 | Gregory Wolff (D-IL) | Vacant | Elizabeth Wellbourne (D-MI) | Vacant |
| 2009 | Michael Casmir (D-IL) | Angela Chiles (R-WI) | ||
| 2010 | ||||
| 2011 | Elizabeth Wellbourne (D-MI)1 | |||
| Jason Gillikin (R-MI)A | ||||
| 2012 | ||||
| 2013 | Gregory Wolff (D-IL) | Jason Gillikin (R-MI)X | ||
| Andrew Brockmeier (D-MI)A | ||||
| Teddy Williams (D-IL)A | ||||
| 2014 | ||||
| 2015 | Teddy Williams (D-IL) | Andrew Brockmeier (D-MI)X | Jason Gillikin (R-MI) | |
| 2016 | ||||
Footnotes
- A Appointed to fill a vacancy
- X Elected to fill the remainder of a predecessor's term.
- 1 Resigned from the Senate to be (indirectly) appointed Governor.
