Gerrymandering has existed for a long time. It is an act of disenfranchisement where politicians choose their voters rather than voters choosing their representatives. A few states created independent commissions to have neutrally drawn maps, but many draw them to maximize one party’s success, biasing elections against what people actually voted for.
Trump escalated gerrymandering by pushing Republicans in states they control to gerrymander shortly before an election, rather than after a census brings new data. This is Trump trying to win the midterm elections by way of changing lines on maps rather than by convincing people to vote for his party. Democrats retaliated by also gerrymandering before the mid-terms. For the midterms, Republicans are predicted to net 7 to 10 extra seats due to changing the maps, rather than convincing voters to vote for them.
Proportional representation may be a better way to elect representatives.
The Trump administration told Texas to gerrymander based on race. Texas did as asked. A judge said the gerrymander was illegal because it was based on race. The Supreme Court said that despite the detailed investigation by the lower court that showed a race-based gerrymander, they don’t think it was based on race. They based that opinion on very little, and overturning a lower court based on one’s opinions of the facts is illegal, unless the lower court decision was overwhelmingly erroneous, which it was not in this case. The Supreme court also said it is too close to an election to make a change even though the elections are a year out. This means state legislatures can illegally gerrymander half the years because House elections are every two years.
The Supreme Court is clearly ruling on freedom of religion cases in a way that is biased toward Christianity and that allows Christians to risk and hurt non-Christians as long as they consider it a part of their religion.
The conservative court decided no matter how extreme a partisan gerrymander, it is legal. However, they said racial gerrymanders are illegal. A district judge dug into the Texas gerrymander and concluded that the actors involved explicitly gerrymandered based on race. Without disputing the facts, the conservatives on the Supreme Court rejected it.
“Bray also addressed threats of violence against many of his own members received after signaling they don’t support remapping the state ahead of next year’s midterm election.
“It’s unsettling for all of our members and people across the state to endure that,” he said of the dozen or so elected Indiana Republicans who have faced threats of pipe bombings, swattings and unsolicited deliveries of Domino’s pizza.”
“sometimes, when it comes to gerrymandering, politicians press their advantages too far. Political scientists have a term for parties spreading their vote perilously thin through redistricting: dummymanders. The idea is that, by spreading a party’s voters more thinly across a greater number of districts in order to pick up more seats, a new map will turn strongholds into potential areas of danger. Instead of having five districts where the party can generally count on 60 percent support, say, they’ll create seven districts where their likely share is more like 53 percent — leaving more of them at risk during a wave election.”
“Trump, who urged Texas and other Red States to redistrict before the end of the decade in a shameless attempt to help the GOP pick up additional seats as we head toward the midterm elections. The Republican Party holds a slim House majority, so a slight shift can slow its agenda.
As the president posted on Truth Social: “Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!! Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself. Texas never lets us down. Florida, Indiana, and others are looking to do the same thing.”
This isn’t as ominous as, say, the GOP effort to steal the 2020 presidential election with absurd claims, bad lawyers and a mob attack on the Capitol. But it’s yet another GOP assault on democratic norms. Prop. 50 is the Democrats’ attempt to neuter these ill-gotten GOP gains. It’s not good, but it’s justifiable. It’s temporary, with the redrawing heading back to the commission in 2030.”
“President Donald Trump is ratcheting up pressure on Republicans to redraw congressional maps across the country, going as far as weighing a primary challenge to New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte if she continues avoiding a remapping effort in her state.”
While both parties gerrymander, Republicans are the worst offenders. More Democratic states turned over their district drawing to neutral drawers. Republicans did not join them. Trump is leading the charge to gerrymander more often. Democrats like California’s governor are temporarily overturning their states’ neutrally drawn districts in order to combat Trump’s aggression.
Fair maps are needed to improve U.S. democracy, but even fair maps won’t be proportional because of where people live. You’d have to get rid of the district system altogether if you wanted representatives to be proportional to population.