The DeSantis Gerrymander Shows the Wisdom of Virginia Democrats

Republicans were always going to gerrymander in Florida. By moving first, Virginia made sure Democrats have a chance in the redistricting wars.

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis this week is pushing his state’s GOP-dominated legislature to adopt a gerrymandering scheme that could create four new Republican U.S. House districts in the Sunshine State. If this proposal passes, it would essentially cancel out the four seats that Democrats are favored to gain after the passage of a redistricting ballot referendum in Virginia last week. So was the Virginia effort a waste? Did it encourage Republicans to do more gerrymandering? 

No and no. The reality is, no matter what Democrats do, President Trump and Republicans in this era are always breaking with traditional democratic norms and values to win and hold power. They were destined to gerrymander Florida, no matter what happened in Virginia. By acting in Virginia, Democrats at least minimized the damage from the redistricting process and clearly showed that the party won’t just concede on this issue to Republicans. 

In considering Florida’s and Virginia’s actions, it’s worth remembering the recent history of gerrymandering in the United States. During the 2010s, Republicans aggressively gerrymandered, ensuring that states such as North Carolina and Wisconsin, which have about equal numbers of Democratic and Republican voters, had huge GOP majorities in their state legislatures and U.S. House delegations. Meanwhile, many blue and purple states were turning redistricting over to independent commissions to ensure fair maps. During President Biden’s first two years in office, congressional Democrats tried to pass a national pro-democracy bill that would have required all 50 states to adopt independent redistricting commissions. Congressional Republicans, along with then–Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, blocked that provision. Then last summer, Trump implored Texas and other........

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