Ron DeSantis May Have Already Delivered the House to Republicans in 2022 [View all]

[riversedge]

This article is depressing. It also reminds me of WI--which is severely gerrymandered since the Scott Walker years and has a majority of RW Sup. Court people on it. Legislature controlled by Repugs even when there are more Dem votes in districts. Gerrymandering wins out last decade and probably next decade.

And Rep Ron Kind will not seek re-election. damn. The repug oppo is a guy who lost by not much and is loaded now with outside money [maybe that is why Kind decided the run was not worth it. damn again]







Ron DeSantis May Have Already Delivered the House to Republicans in 2022

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ron-desantis-may-have-already-delivered-the-house-to-republicans-in-2022/ar-AANo7Ug?ocid=winp1taskbar


Mark Joseph Stern - Yesterday 1:59 PM
301 Comments



The fight for control over the House of Representatives is already a nightmare for the Democratic Party. Currently, Democrats hold a mere five-seat majority in the chamber, and Republican-controlled state legislatures are preparing to draw new gerrymanders that will entrench GOP power for a decade. But not all hope is lost. The 2020 census produced surprisingly decent results for Democrats, adding just a handful of new House seats to red states and tracking massive demographic decline in many Republican regions. As usual at the outset of a new decade, the battle for the House will likely come down to redistricting. And the redistricting process in just one state, Florida, may make or break Democrats’ majority.

In theory, Democrats should face a relatively level playing field in Florida. Although the state Legislature is dominated by the Republicans, voters passed two constitutional amendments in 2010 that prohibit partisan gerrymandering of legislative and congressional districts. So, while the U.S. Supreme Court declined to curb this practice, Florida courts remain empowered to police redistricting under their state constitution. During the last decade, Republican lawmakers egregiously violated the “fair district” amendments—leading the Florida Supreme Court to shoot down their maps. This time, however, that court looks very different: The progressive majority of last decade has departed, replaced by an ultraconservative 6–1 supermajority. This new bloc has repeatedly disregarded precedents, laws, and constitutional commands that conflict with its political agenda. There is, therefore, good reason for Democrats to fear that it will refuse to enforce the anti-gerrymandering amendments, allowing Republicans to draw themselves enough congressional districts to win the House.


The saga of Florida’s last redistricting cycle is sordid and, at this point, unsurprising. Despite GOP opposition, voters overwhelmingly passed the fair district amendments in 2010, barring lawmakers from drawing districts “to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party.” Republican lawmakers paid lip service to the new rules, holding public hearings and feigning a nonpartisan process. All the while, these lawmakers were secretly colluding with GOP operatives, allowing them to manipulate district lines behind closed doors. These operatives even wrote scripts for ostensibly ordinary citizens to read at hearings.

When voting rights advocates sued, the operatives tried to conceal evidence of this collusion, but the Florida Supreme Court forced them to turn over the incriminating documents. Republican lawmakers destroyed many of their own communications with the operatives, but the remaining evidence still demonstrated that legislators’ staff regularly sent draft maps to operatives—apparently for their approval. Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis eventually ruled that these efforts “made a mockery of the Legislature’s proclaimed transparent and open process of redistricting” and amounted to “a conspiracy to influence and manipulate the Legislature into a violation of its constitutional duty.” The Florida Supreme Court affirmed that conclusion and struck down eight gerrymandered congressional districts, forcing major revisions to the map and substantially more competitive elections.

This redistricting story has a happy ending; the next one almost certainly won’t. The only reason we have evidence of Republicans’ “conspiracy” is because the Florida Supreme Court rejected their efforts to shield compromising communications with a claim of privilege. This decision split 5–2, with both conservative justices dissenting. And the only reason the state got a fairer congressional map is because the Florida Supreme Court vigorously enforced the fair district amendments. This decision, too, split 5–2, with both conservative justices dissenting. Since those rulings, all but one member of the progressive majority have stepped down, replaced by far-right justices. Floridians should expect this new conservative majority to effectively repeal the fair district amendments by judicial fiat and hand total control over redistricting to Republican legislators.................................................................