The 2020 redistricting war is (already) on

[muriel_volestrangler]

There's a hundred-million-dollar battle brewing for control of Congress, but it's not going to be resolved for seven more years, and the battles will take place in lands far away from Washington.

Both Democrats and Republicans think controlling state legislatures in 2020 is one of the most important political battles to fight, mostly for one reason: The power of the pen -- the kind that draws district lines, that is.

Five years out, both sides are in a fundraising battle to build war chests of $70 million to $125 million to swing state legislatures their way by 2020, when new electoral maps will get drawn across the country. The Republican State Leadership Committee announced Thursday it's launching RedMap 2020 and aiming to invest $125 million to expand their majority in the statehouses and redraw the nation's electoral lines.
...
New lines were drawn, and in 2012, Republicans took over the House of Representatives with a commanding 234-201 majority -- despite the fact Democratic House candidates got 1.4 million more votes than Republican candidates. Some analysts think the current map is such that Democrats simply won't be able to win a majority on it, barring a massive wave in their direction.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/07/16/the-2020-redistricting-war-is-on/

Without a federal law to force fair districting (and that would probably need a constitutional amendment, which needs state legislatures to willingly give up power, so looks unlikely), winning as many state elections before each redistricting becomes vital. And then, if the Republicans gerrymander, the Democrats have to as well, just to make it look something like a balanced 'democracy'.