Can someone explain in a way my pea brain can understand why Democrats can't

[Ferrets are Cool]

gerrymander in the same manner repugs do? OR do we and I am just not aware? Seems to me as though ALL the gerrymandering is done in a manner that hurts Democrats. Please tell me if I am wrong. Thanks

[Irish_Dem]

1. In the past 48 hours people here on DU have been asking the same question.

Why do we come empty handed to a knife fight when the other side brings knives, assault rifles, and nuclear weapons?

I haven't seen anyone answer the question yet.

[Initech]

22. To quote Rick Moranis in Spaceballs: "What do we have on this thing? A Cuisinart?"

[Irish_Dem]

23. +1

[bigtree]

2. my state's Democrats have been successful in drawing lines

...aren't most districts gerrymandered in some way by the party in power?


Maryland Adopts New Congressional Map for 2022
December 10, 2021

Maryland has adopted new Congressional districts following the 2020 Census. The map, while much cleaner than the map from the past decade, has still drawn accusations of gerrymandering by Republicans.
https://www.annapolitics.com/2021/12/maryland-adopts-new-congressional-map-for-2022/

[everyonematters]

3. In the last election the Democrats has a chance to out gerrymander the Republicans thru New York,

but a judge blocked it. After the 2010 election, the Republicans severely gerrymandered all of the swing states where they won big scaring the hell out of people over the ACA. Michigan has recently gotten out from under it thru a state wide referendum.

[Polybius]

4. It was the right decision, and it was the full NY's highest court that blocked it

In 2014, NYers passed a law banning gerrymandering. The judges really had no choice.

[Alpeduez21]

5. I think for two reasons

One we are too sanctimonious to stoop to that level. (slightly)

Two we don’t need to Gerry mander. Free and fair elections favor dems

[TreasonousBastard]

6. We do. Democrats in NY and other states have redlined election...

districts exquisitely.

If you have at least a week to kill, look up NY's redistricting commission and all the lawsuits around it.

We used to have a gentlemen's agreement that districts be sort of evenly divided, with NYC and some others being forever Democratic, but that all went to hell and we're now having fun in court.

I honestly can't keep up with it.

[sir pball]

15. It wasn't a "gentleman's agreement", it was an idiotic State Constitutional Amendment

NY is legally bound to have "fair" districts, by an Amendment that was passed in a popular vote. I lived in NY at the time and proudly, loudly advocated and voted against that utter foolishness. Fat lot of good that did, I hope after this debacle someone has the guts to float a repeal – hopefully the good Dems have learned what's for the best by now.

I don't want fair. I don't give a fuck about equality or impartiality. I want the NY map to be so twisted, tilted, and outright biased that the Nazis are lucky to score three seats. Ditto every other Blue state. They aren't gonna stop doing it in Red states, we need to wise up and start playing hard as well.

[sl8]

7. Regarding the U.S. House:

Most of the stories I've read about the 2022 election cycle gave the Republicans a slight edge due to gerrymandering, but Democrats had nearly caught up.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/briefing/gerrymandering-maps-districts-republicans-democrats.html
Gerrymandering, the Full Story
A Times analysis finds that the House of Representative has its fairest map in 40 years, despite recent gerrymandering.

https://www.vox.com/22961590/redistricting-gerrymandering-house-2022-midterms
Democrats gerrymandered more effectively than Republicans this cycle

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-house-maps-republican-bias-will-plummet-in-2022-because-of-gerrymandering/
The House Map’s Republican Bias Will Plummet In 2022 — Because Of Gerrymandering

[treestar]

8. too busy being above it and trying to

do the right thing. But we may have earned a reprieve for a while. Rs go all out now and are upfront about it.

Also too many middle class people think they are part of the 1%. Some R districts are only middle class people. The rich could easily be gerrymandered into one district.

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. Thanks for helping me understand.

[allegorical oracle]

10. In Florida, during the era when Dems were the more conservative party, they actively

gerrymandered. It's one abominable benefit of the party in power. Same with the weaponry each party can wield. Look at what the Repugs now are doing in every red state. It's reached a level that will not continue, imo. That's the lesson that hopefully was learned in TN. Once the abuse of one party becomes intolerable, they historically start losing elections. My fear is that FL has become so solidly red that it will take years before Dems can regain a majority.

[Meadowoak]

11. Why do we even have districts? Why not just go by counties.

The same way the votes are counted. A representative should represent an entire county, not just the pieces and parts they want
IMO

[sl8]

12. House representation is apportioned relative to population.

In California, LA County has ~ 10,019,635 people, Alpine County, ~ 1,344.

[FakeNoose]

13. Some counties have a lot more population than others

The Congressional Districts are supposed to be drawn up according to population, based on the last census. That's why the lines change every 10 years because of population changes.

Gerrymandering is nothing more than incumbents putting their thumbs on the scale to get the preferred voters into their own districts. And it is done by both parties - illegally of course. The Repukes have been egregious about gerrymandering wherever they can manage it, since the last 2 or 3 censuses. The Democrats have been more honest about following the rules whenever possible.

But the incumbents of both parties need to be kept away from the district mapping, that's where the problems happen.

[dawg]

14. Bunch of fucking ...

goody two-shoes!

And even when we try, our dumbass liberal judges intervene.

(mostly)

[Just A Box Of Rain]

16. We should be more like Republicans?

[dsc]

17. We do actually have a fairly severe disadvantage when it comes to gerrymandering

Since our voters are more concentrated in small areas while theirs are spread out, it is harder for us to gerrymander. We have to break up our cities in order to so do, and that both looks bad and irritates the residents of those cities.

[Deep State Witch]

18. We Do It

Here in Maryland. That's why we have David Trone. (MD-6)

[Demsrule86]

19. We have neglected state legislatures in General. And IMHO both California and

New York dropped the ball on getting our own gerrymandered districts. Gov. Hochul particularly annoyed me with the dreadful mess in 22 although to be fair she had not long held office. But then she attempted to put a righty judge which would have given New York a conservative majority on the courts...the guy was on record as being against unions and had a questionable record on abortion. This was the court of appeals as well so he would have supervised other courts in New York as well. I sincerely think she may face a primary challenge that worries me even though I don't care for her. We need to keep the seat.

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-nominates-rowan-wilson-be-chief-judge-new-york-state-court-appeals

[Zeitghost]

24. Really?

California Democrats won 77% of the seats with 63% of the votes. Thats an advantage of 7 extra seats in the House. How exactly is that dropping the ball?

[tritsofme]

20. We did a great job of it in Illinois!

[Zeitghost]

21. We do

And anyone claiming we don't doesn't have a clear understanding of the basic math.

Democrats are over represented (control a higher % of the legislative seats relative to their % of total votes cast by party) in a number of states, both at the state and federal level.

On the national level, it basically washes out. At the state level it's a real issue.