How Democrats Turned the Tables in the Gerrymandering Wars – The New Republic

Not to worry, the editorial board opined, because alternative routes to reform still exist. There are also political remedies for political gerrymanders, they argued. Politicians can elevate extreme redistricting as a campaign issue and offer solutions that dont rely on judges. Florida added a fair districts amendment to its constitution. Some states have given the task of drawing lines to a neutral commission or a demographer. Congress could even pass a law forcing such changes.

Those suggestions may not have been completely sincere. Congressional Democrats, as it happens, have consistently proposed a federal ban on partisan gerrymandering over the last few years. But the editorial board has derided that proposal by claiming that no one should want to give Washington a veto over redistricting maps. And what about the state-level solutions that the board touted? When Californias independent commission produced a favorable map for Democrats this cycle, as noted earlier, it drew a furious response from the editorial board precisely for not creating enough safe Republican seats. The same outcry arose after Virginias anti-gerrymandering redistricting process went awry last year, at which time the board took the opportunity to declare that the progressive fiction of apolitical maps in a time of polarization may be on its last legs.

But Matt, you might ask yourself, youre also against gerrymandering, so doesnt this make you a hypocrite, as well? I have often written in support of the elementary principle that voters should choose their elected officials and not the other way around. Anti-gerrymandering reforms seemed like the best solution to this problem, and the federal courts had made earnest attempts to remedy them. But five Republican appointees to the Supreme Court closed the federal courts to opponents of partisan gerrymandering in Rucho, and Republicans in Congress arent interested in reopening those doors through federal legislation, despite having been given many opportunities to take yes for an answer.

So Ive come around to the same conclusion as many conservatives: Gerrymandering is an inescapable feature of single-member districts, and it can never be fully extirpated from the redistricting process. Where I part ways with the right is on what comes next. For them, its nothing. This is the way its always been, and this is the way itll always be. National Reviews Kevin D. Williamson recently claimed that gerrymandering is normal and bipartisan and that the solution for Democrats is just to win the election anyway. I suggest he try doing so as a Democrat in Wisconsin, where the GOP wins two-thirds of state legislature seats with just half of the statewide vote.

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How Democrats Turned the Tables in the Gerrymandering Wars - The New Republic