Have you ever actually been to Wyoming?

I've driven through it down I-80 and spent the night there a few times, but man I would never move there. The winter is incredibly harsh, and the wind was like nothing I've ever experienced. In the course of days otherwise non-eventful winter driving, I counted at least 3 trucks that had been blown off the highway. It's super remote, and some of the locals I met were not particularly friendly. I'm sure this all appeals to some folks, but man - it does not appeal to many of the folks I know. There's a reason why the population is so low.

If you're actually the kind of person who is leaving a solid blue start and cares about "tipping" the balance somewhere else, you'd be much better off going to a state that's already purple or trending that way. Ie, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia.

I have, and you're absolutely right. As an individual (and with an understanding of just how horribly gamed the system is around my vote) I'm gonna go ahead and live where the living's attractive to me. Wyoming does not make that cut. TX, NC, VA also fail the personal sniff test, but no judgments against those who choose to live there. Just not my cuppa.

Were I to have "economic incentive fund creation" money, though, I would for sure consider looking at the least populated states to throw that weight against, as your per capita change in demographic would be greater.

That said, I don't, and even if I did, there are far more effective ways to spend money if political influence is your game. Hell, if I do ever have that kinda dosh (I won't) I'll just take a saunter down K street and buy me some influence, cause that's the American Way(tm).

Fair enough. I guess my contention was that if you wanted your thought experiment to be successful, it seems wiser to:

1. Choose a state that is more appealing to people in general so they don't just leave immediately for a job elsewhere (ie, states that already have a trend of large population growth are growing because they are generally desirable. TX, NC and VA all are growing very rapidly, WY is not).

2. Don't aim for the least populated. You just need to be able to make up the difference to be able to swing it. Due to demographic trends, TX, NC, and VA are already on track to swinging eventually - but a bump of 150k voters could accelerate the timeline by a few years. Bumping the timeline for one of those states also translates into significant electoral college advantage.

3. Recognize that from a culture and infrastructure perspective, current residents of Wyoming would probably not take kindly to their population being suddenly outnumbered by coastal elites and would make this plan difficult for you. TX, NC and VA already are used to having tons of transplants from the north, so Californians would not be anything new or special.

See, this is why I like it as a thought experiment. I hadn't considered the potential for fertile territory / preexisting demographic trends to contribute to snowballing - you make a really good point there. I sorta feel like that view reflects an actual reality, too, rather than an academic musing. Fingers crossed for the future.

As for [3] - and fie on me for being a little kneejerk about this - but if the problem at hand is the amount of outsize electoral influence we all have to put up with from folks in sparsely populated places like wyoming, vermont, etc., then they'll just have to put up with the rest of us moving in and planting flags...

...in that totally hypothetical universe that will never happen...

...cause you're right, I am not moving to Wyoming.

Eastern Wyoming is harsh, windy and exactly like you say. The I-80 corridor is a wind tunnel.

Cheyenne is actually a nice town in my opinion and an hour from Denver. It might not be right for a lot of HN people but I like the town. The surrounding country is just rolling windy plains though.

North Central and Western parts of Wyoming however are gorgeous. I particularly like Thermopolis where GF's family is from. It's a tiny little town deep in a canyon on the wind and bighorn rivers. Hot springs abound. It's probably not the right place for young single techies but it's great country and great fishing. I found the people friendly enough but not overly.

Laramie is a university town. Western parts of WY is full of oil drilling gigs.

I wanted to buy a place in Medicine Bow(remember The Virginian?), but was gently dissuaded by those who knew better.

what was the dissuading factor?

Water.(I needed a well.) And wind. I was totally ill equipped to deal with WY winters as a Californian. I had lived in Boston and also in RI and parts of the south, but WY winters are definitely something different.

I hear you. I bought some ranch land in WY and then got rid of it. It’s a tough place. Rain falls sideways. Brutal..nature wise. Having said that, there is a beauty in that harshness. And the people were super nice!!