After Supreme Court Punts On Gerrymandering, Democrats Make It A Campaign Issue
On a recent scorching afternoon in Austin, Texas, Democrat Justin Nelson held a bar crawl in three bars within just a few blocks of each other and each of those three different bars were in three different congressional districts.
"Even in this baking hot Austin sun, you can walk these three blocks without even being totally drenched in sweat, because these districts are so close," said Nelson, who is campaigning to replace the state's Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, in November.
Nelson is holding similar events in cities throughout the state to illustrate how Republican lawmakers in Texas drew district lines in a way that he claims dilutes the voting power of Democrats.
The way political maps are drawn is becoming a campaign issue for Democrats around the country. This follows the U.S. Supreme Court's decision this term to not weigh in on whether it's constitutional for political parties to draw political districts in a way that favors one party over another.
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/22/630635629/after-supreme-court-punts-on-gerrymandering-democrats-make-it-a-campaign-issue