For the People Act Essentials: Nonpartisan Redistricting
Redistricting is a process undertaken every ten years to map out federal and state legislative districts based on the results of the latest census. Democrats have supported nonpartisan redistricting as outlined in Title II of the For the People Act¹, and as we have in California³, while Republicans have aggressively used the redistricting process as a tool to increase their political power². That is called “gerrymandering,” drawing political districts to favor one political party.
States use a variety of methods to redraw their districts³. California has established independent commissions for that. However, 35 state legislatures vote on congressional redistricting, and Republicans will drive that process in 20 states, while Democrats will only have the majority in 11 states¹⁰. Republicans could retake the House just by gerrymandering four southern states, according to Democratic data firm TargetSmart⁴.
Therefore, Indivisible⁴, Common Cause⁵, and other activist groups like All on The Line⁶ have mounted campaigns to make sure voters in all states are informed and activated to press their legislatures for independent commissions and nonpartisan redistricting procedures.
Nonpartisan redistricting is crucial to the partisan balance in Congress²ᵃ. The Senate already favors Republicans: they hold half the seats while representing just 43 percent of the U.S. electorate. Republican senators haven’t represented a majority since 1999, but from 2003-2007 and 2015-2021, they had a majority of members of the Senate and were passing some bills (and not others) on behalf of a minority of Americans⁸. And it’s not just the Senate — the Electoral College, the House of Representatives, and state legislatures all give Republicans disproportionate power².
Republicans weaponized gerrymandering in a big way after losing to President Obama in 2008. In 2010, they launched their famous $30 million REDMAP (Redistricting Majority Plan)⁹ centered around flipping and winning state legislative chambers in swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida. By winning 117 state legislative races in 2010 across these states, they were able to lock in their power, not only to redraw all of their states’ legislative maps, but to reshape Congress. In 2012, Democrats won 1.4 million more House votes than Republicans, but Republicans held onto the chamber, 234 to 201. Watch the 2020 documentary Slay The Dragon for more details⁹ᵃ.
We might assume that both parties use the redistricting process to solidify their electoral power, but a University of Maryland study in 2020 showed that was not the case²ᵃ. According to voting rights lawyer Marc Elias, “Over the last twenty years, when Republicans have controlled the redistricting process, they have increased their seat share in Congress by an average of 9.1% in the next election. For Democrats, the study found no significant overall increase in congressional seat share when the party controlled redistricting.“²
Democrats have advocated for nonpartisan redistricting, and offered it to our House and Senate in their For The People Act (Title II, Subtitle E¹). But while pressing for passage of that landmark bill, activists nationwide have also been busy learning about and advocating for fairness in the redistricting processes in their states, with the help of Indivisible⁵, Common Cause⁶, and All On The Line⁷.
References
How Republicans Use Redistricting To Their Advantage Democracy Docket
a. Political Control Over Redistricting and the Partisan Balance in Congress PDF
b. https://www.democracydocket.com/?s=Redistricting Alerts and Pending Cases
GOP Could Retake the House in 2022 Just by Gerrymandering Four Southern States – Mother Jones
Fighting Gerrymandering in the States (Indivisible)
Redistricting Activist Handbook (Common Cause)
Advantage, GOP 538 Report, subtitle: Why Democrats have to win large majorities in order to govern while Republicans don’t need majorities at all
In 2010, Republicans 'Weaponized' Gerrymandering. Here's How They Did It. – BillMoyers.com
a. Watch At Home | Magnolia Pictures Link to watch Slay The Dragon
With fewer state governments divided by party than in years past, GOP has edge in redistricting