Lars Belvin-Larsson ‘26
Opinions Editor
A commonality across party lines is the desire to win as many House and Senate seats as possible, but strategies to achieve this end have varied. The upcoming midterm elections have left many Republicans vulnerable to losing their seats in the House of Representatives and, increasingly, in the Senate. Given the razor-thin margins in the House and the possible losses in the Senate, the GOP, at the behest of President Trump, started mid-census gerrymandering. It follows logically that resorting to gerrymandering could offset potential losses through strategies like ‘cracking’ and ‘packing’, which can benefit the party at the macro level. However, on the micro level, constituents have a particular disdain for partisan gerrymandering, with only 7 percent approving of the practice.
Once the President’s nationwide popularity began to slip, he encouraged allied states, such as Texas, to redraw their congressional maps to neutralize imminent seat losses in Democratic-leaning states. After Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s signing of the state’s new congressional map, Democratic-led states followed suit, beginning with California’s countermeasure, Proposition 50. Other blue and red states have also joined the gerrymandering train, with North Carolina, Missouri, and Ohio redrawing their maps, while Utah has faced court-ordered redistricting.
The President’s strategy of moving the goalposts by encouraging states to redraw their maps has created a domino effect across the country, disenfranchising and silencing voters of both parties. Most recently, the redistricting in Virginia, courtesy of Governor Abigail Spanberger, brought many voters to the polls, with Democrats claiming the country needs to restore “fairness.” First, in this context, fairness is highly subjective and depends on perspective and scale. On the macro scale, this fairness could hold true, but on the micro scale, an appropriate representation of Virginians is paramount. The prior Virginia map was 6-5 in favor of the Democrats, imposed by the Virginia Supreme Court in 2021. The new map decisively shifts the balance to the Democrats, with a projected 10-1 seat distribution. The redistricting vote on April 21 passed with 51.7 percent in favor of the new gerrymandered map, with most of the vote carried by urban communities in Northern Virginia. Whether this new map is fair depends on perspective, but on the surface, it does not seem just. Notably, in 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris won the state with 51.8 percent of the vote, so the overwhelmingly Democratic distribution of House seats to come will cause significant resentment among nearly half of the state’s Republican constituents.
Normally, redistricting only occurs at the end of each decade following the census, but recent history has departed from this norm. Democrats have introduced bills, such as S.3750, to end mid-decade redistricting, though efforts have proved unsuccessful. All in all, partisan gerrymandering defeats the purpose of equal representation, and many constituents are about to feel the effects of large-scale party politics. For the American people, opinions of the government as a potential aide are shrinking, shown by the 86 percent disapproval of Congress, and gerrymandering is not helping restore trust. Democrats have tried to quell dissatisfaction by claiming the moral high ground, rationalizing redistricting countermeasures as necessary against President Trump’s agenda to hold onto power after the midterms. Former President Obama championed the move, underscoring its necessity and reaffirming it as a “temporary” step to level the playing field, but risks remain that these redrawn maps will be permanent until the next census.
Following Virginia’s efforts, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has proposed a newly drawn map, which is projected to give Republicans 4 extra seats. Again, the trend continues; after one state redistricts, another follows suit to even out the table. While fighting back against the initial GOP gerrymandering may be seen as imperative, it neglects the voters caught in the crossfire. Millions of voters across the country will see their representatives voted out, not because of their policy failures, but because of domestic power politics. However, placing blame on the Democrats is unfair as well; the fault lies in the Trump administration’s initial action that opened Pandora’s box. The macro fight for power between Democrats and Republicans is carving up states to gain an edge in the House, but it critically neglects the cornerstone of our democracy: constituents.
Featured image courtesy of CNN
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