This looks like a terrible gerrymander. But there is actually something of a method to this madness. The GOP actually didn’t have much choice but to pack voters into Detroit- and Flint-based districts. Detroit has had two African-American-majority districts since the 1960s, and Republicans were probably required under the Voting Rights Act to retain both of them.
This was no easy task. The 13th and 14th districts had both seen their African-American populations drop below 60 percent, and both had suffered severe population losses in the 2000s, requiring them to take on quite a few additional citizens. Making matters worse, there were barely enough African-Americans in all of Wayne County to create two African-American-majority districts entirely within that county’s borders.
Since it was impossible (and possibly unconstitutional) to draw lines to make sure every African-American in the county was in the minority-majority district, redistricters needed to add those voters from Oakland County, which has a growing African-American population. This is actually the source of the odd appendage we see jutting northward from Detroit; it crosses Oakland County to take in heavily minority Pontiac. Even with all this, both districts are only 56 percent African-American and the 14th still elected a white Democrat over an African-American incumbent in the 2012 primaries.
The neighboring districts were then all pushed toward Republicans, as the most loyal Democratic constituents were removed to comply with the VRA. Even a Democratic legislature would have drawn something akin to these districts; there just aren’t many other options. No neighboring district is left with an African-American population in excess of 11 percent under this map, suggesting that the heavily African-American precincts in the state were pretty well gobbled up.