{"id":1786553,"date":"2018-11-04T11:50:53","date_gmt":"2018-11-04T16:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1786553"},"modified":"2018-11-06T08:16:59","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T13:16:59","slug":"xkcds-2018-midterm-challengers-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/11\/xkcds-2018-midterm-challengers-map\/","title":{"rendered":"xkcd’s 2018 Midterm Challengers Map"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The web comic xkcd<\/a> has done maps before (and I’ve covered most of them<\/a>) but Friday’s iteration<\/a> was a departure all the same: an interactive map of the challengers in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections: the larger the candidate’s name, the more significant the office and the better their odds of winning. Remember, these are only the challengers: no incumbents are listed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The web comic xkcd has done maps before (and I’ve covered most of them) but Friday’s iteration was a departure all the same: an interactive map of the challengers in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections:… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[330],"tags":[1294,274,337,273],"class_list":["post-1786553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-politics","tag-2018-us-elections","tag-comics","tag-elections","tag-xkcd","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1844815,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/08\/how-xkcd-does-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1786553,"position":0},"title":"How xkcd Does Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 August 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Randall Munroe, author of the xkcd web comic, posts a surprising amount of map-related content, which I invariably end up linking to here. With some exceptions, they fall into one of two categories, each of which has a recent example. The first category is a hand-drawn infographic map showing, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1789802,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/12\/xkcds-2020-election-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1786553,"position":1},"title":"xkcd\u2019s 2020 Election Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 December 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"xkcd did another map thing, so I have to post about it; it\u2019s a rule. This time Randall revisits the design of the map he did for the 2016 U.S. presidential election, in which one figure represents 250,000 votes for each candidate. In a Twitter thread, he explains the rationale\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-2020-election-map-1024x769.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-2020-election-map-1024x769.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-2020-election-map-1024x769.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-2020-election-map-1024x769.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1368843,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/01\/xkcds-2016-election-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1786553,"position":2},"title":"xkcd’s 2016 Election Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"8 January 2018","format":"image","excerpt":"The maps that appear from time to time on xkcd are usually a lot more whimsical than the one Randall posted today: his somewhat belated \"2016 Election Map\" assigns one figure for every 250,000 votes for each of the 2016 presidential election candidates.\u00a0As Randall says in the alt text, \"I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/xkcd-2016-election-map-1024x777.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/xkcd-2016-election-map-1024x777.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/xkcd-2016-election-map-1024x777.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/xkcd-2016-election-map-1024x777.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791423,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/xkcd-the-greenland-special\/","url_meta":{"origin":1786553,"position":3},"title":"xkcd: The Greenland Special","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 July 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"At some point, xkcd cartoonist Randall Munroe is going to put out a book focusing on his map-related cartoons, isn\u2019t he. The latest in his \u201cBad Map Projection\u201d series (previously: All South Americas, Time Zones, Liquid Resize) is The Greenland Special, an equal-area projection except for Greenland, which uses Mercator.\u00a0And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd: Bad Map Projections: The Greenland Special","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788218,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-all-south-americas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1786553,"position":4},"title":"xkcd: All South Americas","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 January 2020","format":"image","excerpt":"xkcd is back with another bad map projection: in this one, it\u2019s all South Americas. The alt-text:\u00a0\u201cThe projection does a good job preserving both distance and azimuth, at the cost of really exaggerating how many South Americas there are.\u201d Previously: xkcd\u2019s Time Zone Map; xkcd\u2019s Liquid Resize Map Projection; xkcd\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788273,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-reaction-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1786553,"position":5},"title":"xkcd: Reaction Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 January 2020","format":"image","excerpt":"The latest xkcd comic suggests a fiendish way to express yourself: by creating phrases from driving direction waypoints. An obvious upgrade would be to use one or more of the places from the Magnificently Rude Map of World Place Names (previously).","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd: Reaction Maps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1786553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1786555,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786553\/revisions\/1786555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1786553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1786553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1786553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}