Dems furious at Texas redistricting need to look – Latest News
Let’s take a tour of the thirteenth congressional district in Illinois.
It begins in East St. Louis after which strikes steadily north.
By the time it will get to Springfield, home of Abraham Lincoln, about 90 miles away, it takes a sharp flip to the east, reaching Decatur and at last Champaign, itself about 80 miles away from Springfield.
It’s a jagged, slim strip of territory with no apparent rhyme or purpose because it traverses six counties.
It’s much less a congressional district than a street journey, and bears a resemblance to the unique gerrymander, a long, salamander-like state Senate district in Massachusetts in 1812.
The solely level of the new thirteenth district strains, normal within the redistricting after the 2020 census, was to collect collectively far-flung Democrats to create one other Democratic congressional district.
Mission completed: The thirteenth went from being a aggressive district long held by a Republican to flipping to the Democrats in 2022.
Overall, Illinois misplaced one district after the 2020 census and managed to write strains that modified the congressional ratio from a 13-5 Democratic benefit to a 14-3 Democratic benefit.
The political evaluation web site 538 known as the new map “the worst gerrymander in the country drawn by Democrats.”
This makes it particularly inapt that a contingent of Texas Democrats fleeing the Lone Star state to attempt to stop what they contemplate unfair new congressional boundaries discovered a protected harbor in Illinois.
Next time their journey agent ought to do a hypocrisy verify earlier than reserving a vacation spot.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker welcomed the self-exiling Democrats and hailed their braveness.
He advised them that he and different high Democrats within the state had been happy “to stand in solidarity with you and send a clear message to all Americans.”
His conscience confirmed no signal of being pricked by the truth that he signed into law the redistricting that noticed Republicans in 2022 win almost 44% of the favored vote in Illinois congressional races — and solely 18% of the congressional seats.
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A particular session of the Texas Legislature is contemplating new strains that would web Republicans one other 5 House seats.
Gov. Greg Abbott has cited a Department of Justice letter saying that some of the present districts need to be redrawn as a result of they signify unconstitutional racial gerrymandering (the Biden Justice Department had been combating Texas as a result of, in its view, the present strains didn’t replicate enough racial gerrymandering).
The Supreme Court is taking up a Louisiana case that ought to make clear the extent to which states can contemplate race in drawing so-called majority-minority districts.
In the meantime, the partisan impact of the new Texas strains earlier than the 2026 mid-terms is unmistakable: If Republicans had been seemingly to lose 5 seats from this redistricting, there’s no doubt that the state’s Republican governor and Republican legislature wouldn’t be endeavor it.
Drawing district strains is an inherently political enterprise, and events have a tendency to give themselves the best of it.
When Democrats managed the Texas Legislature, they maintained congressional strains of their favor.
It wasn’t till 2002, when Republicans received the state home for the primary time since Reconstruction, that the GOP might redraw the congressional map — and Republicans subsequently received a majority of Texas congressional seats in 2004, additionally for the primary time since Reconstruction.
Since Democrats gerrymander too, they’ve restricted choices for retaliating in opposition to Texas.
Pritzker says he might re-draw his state’s strains, however this is able to require gerrymandering on high of his present gerrymander.
Gavin Newsom is making comparable noises, however the California map is already tilted towards Democrats: Republicans received almost 40% of the congressional vote within the Golden State in 2024, however solely about 17% of the seats.
If the Texas plan goes via and all else stays equal, the Lone Star state could have about the identical partisan skew as California.
Less gerrymandering could be higher than more, however Democrats like Pritzker, who blessed his state’s meandering thirteenth district, have no standing to make the case.
Twitter: @RichLowry
