New York and California have become unlikely focal points in the fight for control of the House, as Democrats toil to appeal to wary voters in districts won by President Biden.

Basically: anti-gerrymandering rules in several Democratic-leaning states man that there are a whole lot of competitive seats in the house of representatives. Vote, especially downballot, and even if you think you’re in a place that’s “safe” for one presidential candidate or another.

  • gravitas_deficiencyEnglish
    51·
    2 months ago

    This is one of the areas on which I genuinely don’t understand the Democratic Party’s strategy.

    Yes - I agree that gerrymandering is categorically bad and fundamentally un-democratic (small “d”). But the Tribunal of Six doesn’t care, so it’s perfectly legal. So why aren’t we deploying malicious compliance on this front?

    There’s a solution here, too. Blue states/legislatures can draw two maps - one heavily blue-gerrymandered, and one that is as fair and district-compact as possible - and also pass a “trapdoor” law that swaps the districts to the fair map once a national ban on gerrymandering is enacted. (Edit) There is actually precedent for this.

    It’s just so fucking infuriating watching the GOP use the (currently fully legal) tactic to undermine our legislatures and society, while the DNC won’t even consider malicious compliance. Seriously, MC needs to be one of the go-to strategies when combating the GOP. Hopefully the need for that sort of thing will diminish in the future, but for now, it is desperately needed.

    • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
      2·
      2 months ago

      The anti-gerrymandering laws in Democratic-leaning states largely passed before the 2010 redistricting when Republicans swung the gerrymander heavily in their favor.