For Democrats, the worst case scenario of losing well over a dozen seats in the U.S. House ain’t gonna’ happen. After some aggressive map drawing of their own in states with Democratic legislatures, Democrats predict the typical congressional district will shift from leaning to the right of the national vote to matching it, ending a distortion that gave the GOP a built-in advantage over the past five House elections.
“We have stymied their intent to gerrymander their way to a House majority,” Kelly Ward Burton, head of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said of the GOP.
Although the nation’s congressional maps won’t be settled for several more months, and Republicans in some large states like Florida have yet to finalize proposed changes, giving the GOP a opportunity to seek an advantage…the Democratic-controlled New York state legislature now has chance to seize map-drawing power from the state’s bipartisan commission. That would almost certainly blunt the GOP advantage that has been in place since the last redistricting process in 2010.
This is fantastic news. Spread it!
PS
The ACLU recently secured two major redistricting victories in Ohio – which will be critical for fair representation and fair elections during this year’s midterms and beyond:
The Supreme Court of Ohio ruled in our favor in two landmark decisions challenging the state’s unconstitutional legislative maps and congressional district maps. In this opinion, the court also ordered the Republican-controlled Redistricting Commission and General Assembly, respectively, to re-draw both maps so they comply with Ohio’s constitution.
These wins are major and we’re hopeful they’ll be the first of many this year in our ongoing push to challenge gerrymandered maps across the country.