Democrats Gerrymandering Fix Unconstitutional, Unworkable

In the first installment of my examination of gerrymandering, I analyzed why the Republican advantage over the past decade is fairly small by historical standards and dwarfed by the Democrats’ prior decades-long hammerlock on redistricting. Nonetheless, as they aggressively gerrymander Democratic states today, Democrats cast themselves as innocent victims of partisan aggression that began only in 2010. To bolster this, they point to their proposals to change the law nationwide. But when you actually dig into their proposals, they are far from evenhanded or foolproof.

Because this is a lengthy topic, I will break the second installment into a couple of columns to examine the problems with the Democrats’ proposals and sketch out some more modest, practical ideas of my own. The third installment of this series (hopefully just one column!) will conclude with a look at how redistricting is playing out in 2022. In today’s column, I take a look at H.R. 1, the Democratic bill that passed the House.

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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In the first installment of my examination of gerrymandering, I analyzed why the Republican advantage over the past decade is fairly small by historical standards and dwarfed by the Democrats’ prior decades-long hammerlock on redistricting. Nonetheless, as they aggressively gerrymander Democratic states today, Democrats cast themselves as innocent victims of partisan aggression that began only in 2010. To bolster this, they point to their proposals to change the law nationwide. But when you actually dig into their proposals, they are far from evenhanded or foolproof.

Because this is a lengthy topic, I will break the second installment into a couple of columns to examine the problems with the Democrats’ proposals and sketch out some more modest, practical ideas of my own. The third installment of this series (hopefully just one column!) will conclude with a look at how redistricting is playing out in 2022. In today’s column, I take a look at H.R. 1, the Democratic bill that passed the House.