Downloads
.zip file (3.5 MB), with ESRI Shapefiles (arc and polygon) and ArcMap layer file (.lyr)
Overview
Staff at the Massachusetts General Court Special Joint Committee on Redistricting developed this layer. Governor Baker signed the 40 districts into law on November 4, 2021, with Chapter 82 of the Acts of 2021.
The name of the statewide datalayers are SENATE2021_POLY (polygons) and SENATE2021_ARC (linear features).
Production
MassGIS downloaded the data from the Joint Committee on Redistricting website and incorporated a coastline into the polygons using 2020 TIGER/Line "faces" data downloaded from the U.S. Census Bureau. MassGIS converted the polygons to linear features to produce the _ARC feature class and added attributes to both feature classes.
The data layers are based upon 2020 U.S. Census geography and therefore will not perfectly align to MassGIS's Municipalities layer (nor any others based on it).
Attributes
The SENATE2021_POLY attribute table has the following fields:
| Field Name | Width / Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SENDISTNUM | 5 / I | Senate District number |
| SEN_DIST | 43 / C | Name of Senate District |
| SEN_FIRST | 13 / C | First name of Senator |
| SEN_LAST | 15 / C | Last name of Senator |
| SEN_PARTY | 3 / C | Senator's political party |
| SENATOR | 40 / C | Senator's full name and party |
| URL | 150 / C | Senator's Web site address |
In the SENATE2021_ARC attribute table, the field OUTLINE is coded as follows:
- 0 = Internal district boundaries
- 1 = State
- 2 = Coastline
Maintenance
MassGIS maintains the layer and will make updates as needed.
Due to a vacancy with a special election scheduled in the Fall of 2023, the Worcester and Hampshire has been coded as "open".
Member names from the results of the November 2022 election were entered in January 2023. Coastal boundaries were updated at the same time. Polygon attributes were edited in February 2024 to reflect recent member changes.
Also see the 2021 House data layer.
Additional information, file formats, and PDF maps can be found on the Joint Committee on Redistricting website.