Democrats are finally bringing the gerrymandering fire
Democrats are finally bringing the gerrymandering fire
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries delivered a message to fellow Democrats about the gerrymandering war that President Donald Trump and the conservative-majority Supreme Court started: Either get on board with plans to redraw your state’s congressional maps, or get out.
“The days of Democrats unilaterally disarming are over, particularly given how high the stakes are,” Jeffries told CNN in an interview published on Wednesday.
The interview came as Republican-controlled states in the South are moving aggressively to redraw their maps after the Supreme Court further weakened the Voting Rights Act.
Republican governors are going as far as throwing away ballots already cast in ongoing primaries in states like Louisiana and Alabama and delaying elections to a later date in order to give their states time to redraw their maps. GOP-led states like Florida are ignoring their state constitutions altogether to try to gerrymander their party into a House majority in this year’s midterm elections.
Even with the corrupt and racist redrawn maps, Democrats are still favored to win control of the House this fall, though the margin will likely be lower than it would have been if Trump hadn’t started this ugly race to the bottom.
Nevertheless, Republicans’ power grab requires that Democrats respond. Ceding power to the GOP under the auspices of good governance will hurt the party.
According to CNN, Jeffries and other Democratic leaders are devising plans to neutralize the Republican efforts to draw their way to a House majority.
Their plan includes pushing Democratic-controlled states to change their rules and redraw their maps for the 2028 elections to extract the maximum number of seats possible. Among the states Jeffries wants Democrats to devise new maps include New York, New Jersey, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Maryland, and Illinois, CNN reported, with Jeffries saying that those states need to act “aggressively” in their redraws.
New Jersey is already looking into ways to pause its independent redistricting commission to draw a more Democratic-friendly map. Democratic state Senate President Nick Scutari saying Tuesday night that Democrats are “taking a really hard look at the possibility of redistricting” before the 2030 census.
“It’s time for New Jersey to not be on the sidelines but join the fight to make sure there is a fair fight in November for the Democrats to really take the opportunity to win back Congress,” Scutari said at a primary debate for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, according to Politico. “We’re having active discussions, and I’m in favor of that.”
Meanwhile, Jeffries said that elected officials who don’t go along with that plan will face consequences, whether that be losing speaking spots at the Democratic National Convention or even being targeted in primary elections.
“We cannot exist in an environment where Republicans are free to gerrymander congressional districts out of existence without an expectation that Democrats are going to respond immediately and forcefully,” Jeffries told CNN.
Democrats say some states will prove to be more challenging than others, requiring changes to state constitutions that ban gerrymandering.
For example, New York and Washington will need to change their constitutions to draw more Democratic-friendly seats.
It could also create racial tensions since some Black lawmakers may have to face different electorates, which could cause the number of Black lawmakers to dwindle. And yet even many of those lawmakers are on board, recognizing that if Democrats don’t control Congress, the situation will be even worse for minority populations.
“That idea here is that in order to protect Black voters and to advance progress in the Congress and to have accountability for what is taking place is to make sure we have a Democratic majority,” Democratic Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York told CNN.
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