“Nuclear war.”
That’s how Dave Wasserman, a senior editor at the Cook Political Report and one of the sharpest elections analysts out there, described the redistricting battle this week. It’s hard to argue with that assessment: in the span of days, decades of progress in fighting gerrymandering, both partisan and racial, have been reversed, with potentially dozens of red state Democrats and blue state Republicans now being cut out of government.
By any objective measure, of course, Republicans both began this war and are the worse offenders. Just yesterday, the governors of Georgia and South Carolina, both of which are already heavily gerrymandered, called special sessions aimed at eliminating even more Democratic-held districts. Now, many Democrats are wondering what, if anything, can be done in response. I dived into that exact question, going state by state to see which offer Democrats their best offensive opportunities, which maps Democrats can actually change, how many seats each state might provide, and what the hurdles are.
Some of the results surprised me — and might hearten those looking for a way out of the current debacle.
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