“GERRYMANDERING” IS AGAIN RUNNING MANY OF THE NATION’S ELECTIONS

 

…Redistricting turns a blind eye to the elections and nation’s communities of color

 

As an example of the effects of the latest redistricting, just look at Texas and North Carolina.

 

You may have read that from all of the redistricting that has occurred in more than half of the states in the country, that the over-all distribution of votes between the two political parties: “might not change that much.”

Unfortunately, that is not exactly the point..

The way the Republican ran state legislations gerrymandered in the 2010 districts, with few changes being made in the 2020 redistricting, all it is doing is breathing new life into the previously distorted 2010 maps.  It is insuring that the elections in 2022 and beyond will be uncompetitive and deeply biased, especially against voters of color.

This is not just my individual statement, this is from the senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice’s Democracy Program, who also wrote the report named: “The Redistricting Landscape: 2021-22.”

As an example of the effects of the redistricting, one only needs to look at the two Republican-controlled legislations of Texas and North Carolina.

Under the congressional map passed by North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature, Republicans could win 71% of the state’s congressional seats with only 48% of the statewide vote.  Republicans in Texas have engineered similar advantages. Texas Democrats would have to win 58% of the vote to be favored to carry more than 37% of the state’s congressional seats. In other words, Texas could turn a dark shade of blue, but the Republicans would still have a two-to-one seat advantage. That hardly looks “not so bad” for Democrats.

It’s important to remember that gerrymandering isn’t just about gaining new seats.  It can also be about insulating the seats they already have, away from the competition.  And one of the biggest redistricting stories this decade is how competition is being sucked out of our elections, especially in Republican-controlled states.

Again, just consider Texas.  Under the old Texas congressional map, there were 11 districts that Donald Trump won by 15 points or more in 2020.  Under their new map, 21 of 24 Republican districts will be “super-Trump districts”.  Overall, in four of the most gerrymandered Republican states (Ohio, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia), the number of heavily pro-Trump districts will go from 27 districts to 39 districts, that's just after their redistricting.  That’s an increase of 44% for the GOP.

This “not so bad” narrative also turns a blind eye to the impact of the redistricting cycle on communities of color, who account for nearly all of the population growth in places such as Texas.  In state after state, in this round of redistricting, the Republican map drawers in particular, are refusing to create new electoral opportunities for the minority communities.  In many cases they are actively dismantling them.

Take, for example, the redrawing of maps in Texas’s Fort Bend County, outside of Houston.  Historically, almost all of this suburban county had been included in the 22nd congressional district.  But the county, which was over 62% White in 1990, it became just 32% White by the end of last decade.  Its politics had become increasingly multi-racial.  In 2018 and 2020, in the district, the Indian American Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni ran strongly at the head of a diverse coalition.  To make the seat safe for Republicans, the Texas legislature carved up the 22^nd district, shoving heavily Asian communities into an adjacent district and bringing in largely White, rural communities into the 22nd. 

Rather than competing for the votes of a multiracial America, Republicans are undermining the nation with an attack on the power of suburban communities of color.

The Democrats, nationally, control line drawing for only 75 seats compared to the 187 that Republicans control. 

Happily though, a handful of states have moved away from extreme gerrymandering.  In Michigan and California, independent commissions produced fair and competitive maps that represent the changing demographics of the country. These wins brighten the national picture, but we shouldn’t let them obscure the gerrymandering that continues to threaten democracy in many other states.

The Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would prevent extreme partisan gerrymandering and they would strengthen protections against racial discrimination.  Both Acts have passed the House and command majority support in the Senate.  President Biden is ready to sign them into law. The only obstacle of course, is the filibuster.  It is not in the U.S. Constitution and it is only a legislative tool that has been used too often to stop civil rights and racial equity legislation.  It is critical that the Senate not let this Jim Crow Relic stop needed reforms.  But there are still two Democratic Senators, one from West Virginia and one from Arizona, that so far are not ready to stop the Republicans from using the filibuster against both Acts.

If those two Senators don’t change their current positions, and the U.S. Senate and/or the House, change their leadership over to the GOP, (as is currently expected), these two Acts stand a “snowballs chance in hell” of passing before the 2024 presidential election.

So, it’s now all up to those two Democratic senators.  Can they be shamed into changing their positions?

Copyright G. Ater 2022