I think the bigger problem with conflicting goals is that we want each small district to have its own representative for its own unique local interests (that’s

I think the bigger problem with conflicting goals is that we want each small district to have its own representative for its own unique local interests (that’s the only reason to have per-district legislators), and we also want the entire legislature to represent the interests of the entire population. These two desires are, in some cases, fundamentally in conflict. That’s why we can and often do observe very low approval ratings of the entire legislature, despite each district presumably having higher approval of its own representative.