Not a single seat flipped. Gerrymandering can affect any legislative body that has to have districts drawn — which includes both the US House of Representatives, and every state legislature. Both parties have tended to do it when the opportunities arise. And since political power is at stake, fights over redistricting are often quite intense.
The term gerrymandering is also sometimes used to describe somewhat different redistricting scenarios. Racial gerrymandering can mean the dilution of the voting power of certain racial or demographic groups, which is usually entangled with seeking partisan advantage.
And a bipartisan gerrymander is a redistricting meant to protect incumbents of both parties. The story of how gerrymandering got its name is actually pretty interesting. You can read it here. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all.
While an increasing number of states employ independent commissions to draw district lines, the large majority still lack safeguards to prevent partisan favoritism in the redistricting process—also known as partisan gerrymandering. It has been almost a decade since the cycle of redistricting, and the country is still reckoning with the impact.
Last May, the Center for American Progress published a report that found that unfairly drawn congressional districts shifted, on average, a whopping 59 seats in the U. House of Representatives during the , , and elections. That means that every other November, 59 politicians that would not have been elected based on statewide voter support for their party won anyway because the lines were drawn in their favor—often by their allies in the Republican or Democratic Party.
To help put this number in perspective, a shift of 59 seats is slightly more than the total number of seats apportioned to the 22 smallest states by population. Of the 59 seats that were shifted per election due to partisan gerrymandering, 20 shifted in favor of Democrats while 39 shifted in favor of Republicans.
This means that from to , the net two-party impact amounted to an average gain of 19 Republican seats per election, which is still more than the number of seats in a dozen U. One can also look at the effects of gerrymandering in terms of population. The average congressional district has a population of slightly more than , , which means that a total shift of 59 seats is equivalent to representation for approximately 42 million Americans.
Moreover, the 19 net seats Republicans gained are equivalent to representation for about Other GOP-controlled states: Republicans control the redistricting process in 14 more states, most of which are solidly red. The party has the chance to knock out several Republican seats there — as many as five, according to the New York Times.
Illinois is the only other big state where Democrats control map-drawing, but their gains there will likely be smaller. Other Democratic-controlled states: Democrats have full control over map-drawing in five more states, but they have fewer opportunities to make gains — those opportunities appear to be for one seat in Maryland where a Democratic legislative supermajority can cut out Republican Gov.
Larry Hogan from the process and one in New Mexico. States with divided partisan control: Finally, there are some states where the two parties are sharing power.
Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Louisiana each have Democratic governors and GOP-controlled legislatures, and that will mean some tense negotiations. A court could take a neutral approach, or act politically if the justices are so inclined for instance, Democrats have a majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but conservatives have a majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
For another group of states — those using commissions to redistrict — partisan outcomes are more difficult to game out. The commissions used in different states vary quite a bit, and much may hinge on precisely who is selected to them. All of the arcane gamesmanship described above would be irrelevant if the House adopted proportional representation with multi-member districts.
In such a system, the seats in the legislature each party gets would depend on what proportion of the vote they win in the relevant area. Gerrymandering is so effective because the US uses single-member districts where there can only be one winner.
With proportional representation and multi-member districts, a party winning 60 percent of the vote in a state would get about 60 percent of the seats in a state. But that would be a major change in the way the House has long worked, with one member per district.
Even Democrats were unwilling to go this far in their voting reform legislation. In many states, it is possible to draw a politically balanced and competitive map — but you have to try. Put another way: If line-drawers were instructed to ignore partisanship entirely, they would be more likely to draw a map that favors Republicans, because of where Republicans and Democrats happen to live Democrats are concentrated in cities.
To draw a map that will incline toward fair partisan competition, you usually have to think about and try to achieve that outcome. Of course, in the abstract, any gerrymandering or geographical disadvantage can be overcome — you simply have to convince more, perhaps many more, people to vote for you. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding.
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By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. The redistricting wars The battle lines for the next decade of US politics are about to be set.
Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. What is redistricting, and what is gerrymandering? In real-life redistricting, several sometimes conflicting factors often come into play: Partisan balance and competitiveness: Some argue that a fair map should end up reflecting the overall partisan vote of the state, and that if most statewide voters vote for Democratic candidates, Democratic candidates should probably end up winning most of the seats.
Members of Congress themselves, however, prefer the job security offered by safe seats rather than competitive districts.
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