I don't think of blue and red in terms of states but rather cities. It seems to me that as a city becomes more dense in population you need more "rules" to govern people by because there are just so many personalities out there. As you get further away from the cities things spread out and not as many rules are needed and people are a bit more relaxed it blue transitions to red as long as there isn't a lot of poverty. Then you way out away from those cities and anything goes at that point.