In the last four presidential elections in a row, the Republican candidate has won states geographically stretching from Georgia to North Dakota, Montana and Idaho — from the Atlantic Ocean, across the Mississippi River to the Great Plains and north to Canada.

The coalition helped President George W. Bush win two elections, but John McCain and Mitt Romney still kept the “Republican L” intact even in their losses. Given the Republican strongholds in southern states and plains states, from Texas straight north to North Dakota, it was fairly easy to assume going into 2016 the Republicans could draw an L-shaped line over states they would win from the Atlantic Ocean to Canada.