In the July tradition of summer camps past, let’s play Two Truths and a Lie: Gerrymander Edition. Ready? Guess the lie:
1. Based on national votes cast for them, Democrats should have 18 more seats — a three seat majority — not the 33 seat minority engineered through Republican gerrymandering.
2. Eight of today’s ten most gerrymandered districts were drawn by Republican legislatures.
3. Nine out of those ten most gerrymandered districts benefit Democrats.
If you’ve been following national gerrymandering from the left, #3 is clearly false. Republicans have undeniably engaged in crafty redistricting plans more (#2), and it follows that the practice clearly doesn’t benefit Democrats, who have lost their majority (#1).
In fact, they’re all true, including #3. The most egregiously gerrymandered districts — especially the ones drawn by Republicans — benefit Democrats the most. But how can that be?
The answer has to do with gerrymandering’s long-suspected, but never proven, relation to polarization. The political community has debated this issue for years, producing widely varying answers. But at least part of the reason is a misconception about gerrymandering, and what gerrymandering ultimately does.
A Very Gerrymandered Misconception
Gerrymandering is the phenomenon of manipulating the Congressional redistricting process. With every Census, all 50 state legislatures are required to redraw the borders of their congressional districts to accord with the Supreme Court’s “one person, one vote” rule and to make the districts as equally populous as possible. While the exercise is premised on equality, it presents an irresistible opportunity for political parties to tilt the playing field to their advantage. The party that controls the state legislature inevitably redraws the districts, with patchworks and shapes so bizarre that their creators nearly join the pantheon of postmodern art. The retooling of these boundaries boils down to one purpose: to maximize the number of seats their party can capture in the upcoming election. Bewildered by the complexity of other options, the Supreme Court has mostly upheld this arrangement.
What is the purpose of political parties redrawing districts?