Map Quest
On screwing with democracy, ignoring the will of the people and tanking the Constitution.
I celebrated my birthday this week. I love sharing Mother’s Day with my birthday because they’re just treated as one holiday. One card (Happy Mother’s Day and Birthday!), one bottle of wine (We just had this a couple days ago, it’s still good!), one bouquet of flowers (fresh from the farmer’s market, dead by nightfall!). If I were a lesser person, I would resent my daughter for ruining my birthday.
I do appreciate the random automated birthday emails I get, like the one from the Honda dealership that said they hope I’m still enjoying my Pilot, which was totaled a couple of years ago, and one from Northwestern, where I took out student loans to earn my master’s in journalism when print media was still a thing.
But let’s turn to the gift that keeps on giving — redistricting. If you haven’t been paying attention, and I can’t say I blame you, elected officials across this great country are carving up our states into partisan districts that benefit them. I know that may sound unconstitutional but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gutting the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana so deleting entire sections of the electorate must be OK.
It goes something like this. Democrats looked like they were in a position to take the U.S. House of Representatives from the Republicans. When the White House and Congress saw that, they realized they could do one of two things: run honest campaigns and ensure fair elections or go full Lizzie Borden on every state possible in order to keep their party in control. As you can imagine, it was a difficult decision but they went with the second.
Guess where all the fun started? I’ll give you a hint. Texas. As a good Catholic, Governor Abbott was more than happy to do Trump’s bidding because it’s what Jesus would do. Look it up. Disenfranchising voters was absolutely the precursor to healing lepers.
Next was California, redrawing its map to make up for Texas after passing a constitutional amendment. You could say that makes Democrats just as culpable but, come on. They started it.
Unfortunately, I lost track of the detailed and incredibly accurate U.S. redistricting map I created at home with a simple bulletin board, a ball of twine, colored thumbtacks and carefully selected family reunion photos so I had to turn to the Cook Political Report for updates.
Newly redrawn maps:
California, 3-5+ Democratic seats
Florida, 1-4+ Republican seats
Missouri, 1+ Republican seat
North Carolina, 0-1+ Republican seat
Ohio, 0-2+ Republican seats
Tennessee, 1+ Republican seat
Texas, 3-5+ Republican seats
Utah: 1+ Democratic seat (No, I don’t get this one either)
All eyes on:
Alabama, 1+ Republican seat
Indiana (the Senate rejected a new congressional map)
Louisiana, 1+ Republican seat (comes with official Supreme Court endorsement!)
Mississippi, 1+ Republican seat (special session cancelled)
South Carolina, 1+ Republican seat
Virginia (blocked)
Venezuela (wild card)
In Indiana, 21 Republican senators opposed redistricting efforts. Five of them lost their Republican primaries due to the Wrath of Trump. THAT will teach you to follow your conscience!
South Carolina is an interesting case even if it is the lesser of the two Carolinas. This week the state senate failed to reach the two-thirds majority required to take up a vote on redistricting. Five Republicans voted against the proposal. But now the governor will call a special session.
And then there’s my beloved home state of Virginia, where voters approved the redrawn map, which could’ve netted up to four Democratic seats, but it was blocked by the state supreme court. Luckily, Democrats are taking this all the way to the Supreme Court so it can be rejected again.
You’re probably saying, wow, this looks bad for Democrats but interestingly enough, the Cook Report continues to believe that Democrats will ultimately win control of the House which makes me think that those staffers are seriously mentally ill.
I’ll have what they’re having. One pharmaceutical cocktail on the rocks.
Once again, the worse the news, the sharper your scalpel. Hoping you (and the rest of us wretches) get a break one of the days.
Unless you're having nightmares where, EVERY TWO YEARS, half the states in the (ironically-named) Union are redrawing their maps to squeeze one more legislative or congressional district out of their poor voters, you aren't paying attention. The constant redistricting wars will be an ordinary feature of the electoral process from here on out.