Gerrymandering Rigged the 2014 Elections for GOP Advantage

[KamaAina]

http://billmoyers.com/2014/11/05/gerrymandering-rigged-2014-elections-republican-advantage/

In the midterm elections, Republicans appear to have won their largest House majority since the Hoover administration. Republicans won on the weakness of Democratic candidates, a poor resource allocation strategy by Democratic party leaders, particularly DCCC chair Steve Israel, and an election narrative that did little to inspire base Democratic voters. That being said, in many ways, the game was rigged from the start. The GOP benefitted from the most egregious gerrymandering in American history.

As Rolling Stone reported, GOP donors plowed cash into state legislative efforts in 2010 for the very purpose of redrawing congressional lines. In the following year, as the tea party wave brought hundreds of Republicans into office, newly empowered Republican governors and state legislatures carved congressional districts for maximum partisan advantage. Democrats attempted this too, but only in two states: Maryland and Illinois. For the GOP however, strictly partisan gerrymandering prevailed in Ohio, Pennsylvania Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Tennessee and beyond....

In 2012, the first congressional election after the last round of gerrymandering, Democratic House candidates won 50.59 percent of the vote — or 1.37 million more votes than Republican candidates — yet secured only 201 seats in Congress, compared to 234 seats for Republicans. The House of Representatives, the “people’s house,” no longer requires the most votes for power....

There are a lot of structural issues that influence congressional elections, from voter ID requirements to early voting access. But what does it matter if you’ve been packed into a district in which your vote can’t change the composition of Congress.

[yeoman6987]

1. Sounds like the Democratic Party should have done

This more then just Maryland and Illinois. My district in Maryland is horrible. I live in Arnold far away from Eastern Shore but still am included in diistrict 1 which is Republican. I will never have a Democratic Representative due to Maylands nasty redistricting. It is ugly if you see it on a map.

[Viva_Daddy]

2. But turnout is the real reason for our loss. Don't forget that.

[Retrograde]

3. but. that doesn't affect senate or gov

sure, redistricting favored the GOP in some races, but US Senate and governorships were state-wide contests. No, I blame the people who didn't show up to vote.

[blkmusclmachine]

4. ,

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