For the past four months, states across the country have been locked in a redistricting arms race. The goal: redraw enough congressional seats to lock in a partisan advantage ahead of next year’s midterm elections. But the tit-for-tat battle that President Donald Trump initiated has somehow left control of the House in 2027 even more of a question mark than when the year began as the courts weigh in and local politics come into play.
Through all the madness, a new poll from Politico shows that the rush for redistricting has plenty of fans within both major parties. Its survey found a supermajority of those who say they’ll vote for Democrats next year (68%) support or strongly support redrawing congressional maps to “match and neutralize Republicans doing so in red states.” Republicans feel the same about countering potential Democratic gains, albeit with a smaller majority (57%).
The survey was conducted by polling firm Public First between Nov. 14 and Nov. 17, a window that fell between a series of major setbacks for the GOP’s redistricting efforts. California voters approved Proposal 50, pausing the state’s independent redistricting committee in favor of letting the legislature draw five new Democratic-leaning seats. Last week, a panel of federal judges nixed the Texas GOP’s newly drawn map, threatening to erase any net seats that Republicans had hoped to gain next year. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which put the lower court's ruling on pause Friday, but it still represents a major setback for the White House-led effort.
Where I find myself troubled is the apparent shift from voters toward seeing gerrymandering approvingly.
This is a preview of Hayes Brown's latest column. Read the full column here.
