Should Democrats gerrymander New York and California?

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Little Raven
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Should Democrats gerrymander New York and California?

Post by Little Raven »

Abso-freakin-lutely.
To hear democratic leaders decry gerrymandering as part of their current bid to enact landmark voting-rights legislation, you’d think the centuries-old practice was a mortal threat to the republic. But political necessity could soon demand that Democrats drop their purity act. To keep their narrow House majority, they might have to deploy the tactic everywhere they can, and every bit as aggressively as Republicans do.

Nowhere are the stakes higher for Democrats than in New York. The party there has its largest legislative majorities in a century and more sway over more seats than anywhere else in the country. A cutthroat approach to redistricting in New York could eliminate or substantially alter as many as five GOP-held seats—a number equivalent to the Democrats’ entire edge in the House.

...

Nationwide, the challenge for Democrats is formidable: The shuffling of House seats as a result of the decennial census is expected to shift power from mostly Democratic states like California, New York, and Illinois to states like Texas, Florida, and North Carolina—all of which will have legislatures controlled by Republicans who will be in charge of drawing new districts. “The bottom line is: If this becomes an arms race, and both parties maximize their advantage in the states that they control, Republicans will come out ahead,” David Wasserman, an analyst for the nonpartisan newsletter The Cook Political Report, told me. The GOP needs to flip just five Democratic seats to recapture the House majority in 2022, and conceivably, the party could gain all of those seats through gerrymandering alone. Wasserman projects that Republicans could net anywhere from zero to 10 seats from redistricting.
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LordMortis
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Re: Should Democrats gerrymander New York and California?

Post by LordMortis »

No, but then what do I know until the gerrymandering is removed from my state?
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Pyperkub
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Re: Should Democrats gerrymander New York and California?

Post by Pyperkub »

They (the Democrats) can't do California. It is part of the state constitution that all legislative districts are written by an impartial panel of elected judges now.

On the other hand it doesn't really matter with the GOP where it is now vis a vis California, that constitutional amendment was written by Republicans because they were getting their ass kicked, and then it got even worse for them and back fired as the first redistricting ended up giving the democrats a super majority in the State Legislature which they didn't have before.
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Lorini
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Re: Should Democrats gerrymander New York and California?

Post by Lorini »

Yeah no gerrymandering in CA. It was passed by initiative I thought?
Black Lives Matter
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