Originally Posted by
Kobold
No problem PB! Try to get through the first sentence; I know reading comprehension is a skill you haven't mastered yet!
Which brings us to the House and the most underappreciated aspect of what’s propping up the Trump presidency: gerrymandering. Democrats need 24 seats to retake the House, and a new report from the Brennan Center estimates that “in the 26 states that account for 85 percent of congressional districts, Republicans derive a net benefit of at least 16-17 congressional seats in the current Congress from partisan bias.”
Congressional district maps were last redrawn after the 2010 Census — right when the tea party wave handed Republicans increased majorities in state legislatures, which meant control in more states over the new district lines. Thanks to technology, it’s easier than ever for one party to create new districts that maximize its seat share. In North Carolina in 2016, for example, Republican candidates received 53 percent of the total votes for the House, but won 10 of the 13 congressional seats. The results have been most pronounced in swing states; the report’s authors Laura Royden and Michael Li estimate that GOP-drawn maps in North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania have netted Republicans between two and three seats on average in each state. (Some Democrats have played games as well: Royden and Li also estimate that Democratic gerrymandering in Maryland and Massachusetts cost the GOP a few seats.)
The GOP’s trickery means that instead of picking off a few Republicans here and there, Democrats need a wave to retake the House in 2018 and start honest oversight of the Trump White House. Such a wave is plausible given the Trump administration’s troubles — and the related difficulties Republicans have had enacting their agenda. But it’s equally plausible that gerrymandering could save Trump from a Democratic House. Trump opponents hoping for a quick conclusion should steel themselves for a long fight. And when congressional districts are redrawn again after the 2020 Census, Democrats — and honest Republicans — should back districts drawn in neutral fashion that actually reflect the will of the voters.