At the New York Times, there is wailing and gnashing of teeth over Republicans’ plans to try to redistrict several states, including Texas, in hopes of increasing GOP representation in the House.
This is a nefarious conspiracy, of course, and if you didn’t know better you would think that Republicans invented gerrymandering. The Times laments the fact that in responding to the GOP’s efforts, “the toolbox for Democrats is relatively sparse, aside from litigation or legislative protests.” If you read far enough, you find out why:
States where Democrats would have complete control over any redistricting, such as Illinois and Maryland, are already gerrymandered heavily in their favor. Squeezing more Democratic seats out of those states would be a challenge.
Indeed.
Illinois’s congressional delegation has a 14-to-3 Democratic advantage. Maryland’s is seven Democrats to one Republican. Both states would have to eliminate every Republican district to come close to offsetting the potential Texas changes.
So Illinois’ House delegation is 82% Democrat, while the presidential vote in 2024 split 54% Democrat and 43% Republican. Maryland’s House delegation is 88% Democrat, while the presidential vote in 2024 was 63% Democrat and 34% Republican.
Somehow, it is hard to work up a lot of sympathy for the Democrats.
