New files: GOP gerrymander guru pushed racial redistricting in many other states
New files: GOP gerrymander guru pushed racial redistricting in many other states
The late Thomas Hofeller developed racial redistricting plans in Alabama, Florida and West Virginia, new files show
IGOR DERYSH
https://www.salon.com/2019/09/24/new-files-gop-gerrymander-guru-pushed-racial-redistricting-in-many-other-states/
SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 9:30PM (UTC)
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Republican gerrymandering guru Thomas Hofeller was involved in racial redistricting efforts in more states than previously known, according to files obtained from his hard drives after his death.
After Hofeller's death earlier this year, was revealed as a key driver behind the Trump administration’s push to add a citizenship question to the U.S. census. Hofeller's estranged daughter found a trove of files on his hard drives and has shared them with activists and journalists. Hofeller was paid millions by the Republican National Committee to devise new redistricting maps, and argued in the files that the citizenship question “would clearly be a disadvantage to the Democrats” and “would be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.”
More files obtained by former Salon editor David Daley for The New Yorker revealed that Hofeller compiled troves of racial data that were used in North Carolina’s illegally gerrymandered map and by Republicans in other states.
More files obtained by Daley show that Hofeller also participated in redistricting in Alabama, Florida and West Virginia, he wrote at The Intercept. The files show that Hofeller and Republican operatives “experimented with using race as the primary factor in drawing districts,” he wrote.
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