Serious question about gerrymandering

[jmowreader]

Let's say that we make out like bandits in the 2020 election and take majorities in some of the most-gerrymandered states.

Should the Democratic Party re-gerrymander those states to favor our candidates?

My feeling is that we should, largely because it's going to take AT LEAST five Congresses with filibuster-proof Democratic majorities to undo all the damage Trump will do.

[BigmanPigman]

1. I would like to see no gerrymandering by either party.

However, the GOP only knows how to win by lying and cheating and would re-draw districts when they eventually get control again. Should we play fair and square or play their game and play by the "golden rules"....an eye for an eye and do what they have done?

[PJMcK]

10. How would you define Congressional districts?

Districts are outlined every ten years following the national census, aren't they? Each state's legislature defines them, I believe. That's why it's important for Democrats to re-take state legislatures as well as Congress.

This is from Wikipedia:

There are 435 congressional districts in the United States House of Representatives, with each one representing approximately 711,000 people. In addition to the 435 congressional districts, the five inhabited U.S. territories and the federal district of Washington, D.C. each send a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives. The Census Bureau within the United States Department of Commerce conducts a decennial census whose figures are used to determine the number of Representatives that each state sends to Congress, and therefore the number of congressional districts within each state. The borders of those districts are set by the states, and within each state all districts are required to have approximately equal populations (see Wesberry v. Sanders). The 2012 elections were the first to be based on the congressional districts which were defined based on the 2010 Census data.

Do you have a plan?

[Major Nikon]

13. State constitutions need to have protections against gerrymandering

That's the only real way to insure the Banana Republicans don't have their foot on the scale.

[Hamlette]

2. hell yes. I'm sick of playing by the rules while the other side refuses to do so too. nt

[njhoneybadger]

6. Right, we play by the rules and they try to slit our throats

[RDANGELO]

3. No, I don't think they should.

Then the Republicans will go back and do it again when they have the chance. We need a law stating the districts be drawn by non partisan commissions. If the Democrats win big enough in 2020, it's possible it could be passed as a constitutional amendment as even most Republicans are in favor of it..

[Ezior]

4. I say: First, gerrymander everything to the max...

Then say that Dems are willing to work on bipartisan election reform that prevents future extreme gerrymandering, protected by the constitution, like in PA. Maybe demand that similar reforms take place in ALL STATES, including dark red states, before Dems de-gerrymander the blue / purple states. Maybe even demand presidential election reform (i.e. get rid of electoral college) and # of senators per state.

Depends on the outcome of the election, really. But one thing is for certain, "the world is laughing at" the way representation works in your system. Even when Dem voters are a majority in a state, they are not guaranteed to have a majority in the state legislature, because Dem voters live in the wrong places? Are you kidding me?

[Voltaire2]

5. No. But we should ungerrymander.

[Skittles]

7. how about we just make it FAIR

DEMS can win fair elections; repukes CANNOT

[Luciferous]

8. Exactly!

[Flaleftist]

15. Yes. We don't need to cheat to win.

We just have to keep the GOP from cheating.

[Sancho]

9. Gerrymandering is only part of the problem...

and if there was no gerrymandering, Democrats would win most of the time all other things being equal.

BUT the GOP hacks elections, restricts registration, throws people off rolls, manipulates poll stations, and favors the electoral college.

Gerrymandering is a big problem, but fixing it alone is not enough.

[mythology]

11. 538 put out good podcast series on gerrymandering recently

Not gerrymandering is harder than it seems depending on how much somebody wants to account for protections around minorities and representation, specifically in terms descriptive representation. If we think it's important to have minorities be in a position to be elected, then we need more majority-minority districts or at least districts with higher concentrations of minorities and thus reducing the Democratic vote in other districts. If we only want substantive representation (ie it doesn't matter if the elected representative looks like their district), that's much easier.

[MichMary]

12. Here is an example of court ordered gerrymandering

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois%27s_4th_congressional_district

There are good reasons for some gerrymandered districts, and we could lose some valuable reps if districts were all drawn with perfect lines and angles.

[TheSmarterDog]

14. The reason the GOP needs to gerrymander is b/c they can't win otherwise.

Gerrymandering is inherently unfair, so it's a form of cheating.

Democrats don't need to cheat, lie, or misrepresent their positions to get elected. We just need a fair playing field.

[Wounded Bear]

16. No. I don't want to become them...

Several states have rather fairly determined districts. In my home state, WA, the 9 congressional districts are pretty reasonable. Just looking at the map, you can see how the uban/rural split works out. The district boundaries don't wander around like a snake pit.

The re-draw in Pennsylvania looks pretty reasonable, too.

It can be done. You can't totally eliminate gerrymandering, maybe, but you can mitigate it if you try. In WA, they have a 3-position panel that outlines the districts, 1 Dem, 1 Repub, and 1 judge (who is hopefully non-partisan).

Turning the Dem party into a bastardized "anti-Repub" party just furthers the evil. We need representation of the people. Even Dems should have to go out and present their platform and policies and get them elected in the court of public opinion.