In your view, what were some of the biggest gerrymandering miscalculations (post-2022)
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  In your view, what were some of the biggest gerrymandering miscalculations (post-2022)
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Author Topic: In your view, what were some of the biggest gerrymandering miscalculations (post-2022)  (Read 436 times)
ProgressiveModerate
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« on: December 26, 2022, 02:30:35 AM »
« edited: December 26, 2022, 02:39:21 AM by ProgressiveModerate »

This can be at any level.

It also doesn't have to mean the gerrymander outright failed this cycle, but there are clear warning signs it could backfire big time.

Firstly, I think it's important to note that in order for a gerrymander to truly backfire, it has to backfire pretty big time. Say for instance Texas's gerrymander produces a 25R-13D delegation up until 2028 where Ds flip TX-03 and make the delegation 24R-14D. Yes, one of the seats intended to go for Rs fell to Ds, but overall the gerrymander was successful cause for the entire decade, it produced a lopsided delegation in Republicans favor hence achieving it's intended goal.

These are a few of my thoughts:

I would say Kansas comes to mind. The KS GOP literally brought in a member on their deathbed to override Laura Kelly's veto for quite an ugly looking map aimed at eliminating Democratic congresswoman Sharice Davids, only for Davids to go on to win re-election in a landslide. Furthermore, on the State Legislative level, it seems like they tried to bacon-strip out the outer-ring of suburban Johnson County seats to make them narrow Trump districts, even though Johnson Couny has been shifting hard left, and infact Democrats already flipped one of these seats in an upset in 2022 and came very close in 2 others. While the overall control of the legislature isn't competitive (at least right now), it could easily deprive Rs of their supermajority come 2024.

Texas. I think the congressional map as ugly as it is is quite effective, but the State House gerrymander seems poorly done. Yes, I know Texas has county splitting rules for legislative maps and yes, ik political geography sucks for Rs, but they were super greedy in places like Collin and Denton counties rather than ceding an extra seat or two to Dems and pushing the median district pretty far right. For instance, from 2016-2020 Pres, Collin County shifted 12 points left, and yet, there are 4 Trump seats are closer than Trump + 12, def not very secure.

Oregon. I would say the Congressional map is fine, even if this time OR-05 failed, but in the state legislature, Ds came pretty close to losing their State Senate majority despite OR being a pretty blue state. It also seems like the maps they drew make it very very hard for Ds to win a supermajority in either chamber which again is def doable given how blue OR is topline.

Missouri Congressional. Firstly it’s horrendously ugly. Yet the GOP couldn’t get their act together to crack Kansas City or even weaken the existing KS-05. Furthermore, they only barely showed up Wagner into a Trump + 7 seat that at least this past decade, has had some pretty bad shifts for the GOP; Wagner “only” won by 12 this cycle despite facing a nobody, and Schmidt only carried the district by like 3. Could actually result in a 5R-3D delegation later in the decade.
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bagelman
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« Reply #1 on: December 26, 2022, 05:06:09 AM »

Kansas is the worst of the lot. A perfect combo of malicious and pointless.
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President Punxsutawney Phil
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« Reply #2 on: December 26, 2022, 07:40:16 AM »

Kansas is the worst of the lot. A perfect combo of malicious and pointless.
Kansas has to be among the worst-done ones, yes.
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Mr.Phips
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« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2022, 01:06:36 PM »

The Oregon Senate is better than it looks given that Dems held 17/30 seats in a not great year for them (they lost OR-05 and Kotek only narrowly won).  Also, Dems are almost certain to get to 18 in 2024 when the Biden + 20 Bend seat is up.
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leecannon
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« Reply #4 on: December 26, 2022, 08:40:19 PM »

I foresee Georgia being a mild dummymander with 11 and 6 flipping, and 9 might even become mildly competitive.

Ohio is another one where hall their attempts failed to gain them a seat, in fact it lost them one

Kansas is just weird
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Sol
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« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2022, 09:01:44 PM »

I foresee Georgia being a mild dummymander with 11 and 6 flipping, and 9 might even become mildly competitive.

Ohio is another one where hall their attempts failed to gain them a seat, in fact it lost them one

Kansas is just weird

Very hard to imagine GA-09 flipping imo; even if northern Gwinnett goes hard D, the bulk of the district will still be in extremely conservative NE GA.
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ProgressiveModerate
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« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2022, 09:19:27 PM »

I foresee Georgia being a mild dummymander with 11 and 6 flipping, and 9 might even become mildly competitive.

Ohio is another one where hall their attempts failed to gain them a seat, in fact it lost them one

Kansas is just weird

I think even if 6 and 11 flip, the GA gerrymander is still a success since that'd produce a 7-7 delegation while Ds are presumably winning statewide by quite a bit.

I think outside 6 and 11, the next most likely seat to flip would be Trump + 23 GA-10. Warnock put up a surprisingly strong showing in the district, and black spillover from Henry and Newton Counties should continue to push the district left. I wouldn't count on it flipping but it should def narrow.

While I agree shifts in GA-09 are very favorable to Ds, it's still a Trump + 38 district that has a lot of deep red Appalachian communities. I think under any scenario, it stays safe R for the decade.

I rmbr during the redistricting cycle, there was some talk around the GOP only ceding 3 ATL sinks rather than the 4 they ultimately decided on, which would've had potential for a big time dummymander.
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EastOfEden
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« Reply #7 on: December 26, 2022, 10:00:00 PM »

Kansas is the worst of the lot. A perfect combo of malicious and pointless.
Kansas has to be among the worst-done ones, yes.

It was even more pointless than you realize.

It was already impossible to draw a district that:
- contains all of Johnson
- was won by Trump in 2020
- makes any sense at all while doing those two things

After this election, this fact is completely irrelevant. Davids won by more than both 2018 and 2020, in a worse district and national environment. Dislodging her is clearly impossible, and realistically was never going to be possible. She has that seat for as long as she wants it.

At the very least, the gerrymander should keep KS-02 from flipping unless there's an enormous blue wave in 2028 or something, but that's just a maintenance of the status quo. The previous version of that district almost flipped in 2018.
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