Republicans gerrymandered their way to the House majority. And Democrats overperformed to keep it close. That’s the truth.
GOP legislatures spent the last two years since the 2020 Census eliminating Democratic districts with illegal maps and defying court orders to redraw them leading up to the 2022 election.
Their gerrymanders were their only saving grace from a historic Republican flop on November 8th. Here’s how it happened:
In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s map gave the GOP four new House seats and eliminated the seats of two Black lawmakers. A state judge tossed out the map, calling it a “racist gerrymander.” DeSantis appealed to the state Supreme Court, stacked with his appointees, and pushed it through.
GOP pickups by gerrymander: 4
Tennessee Republicans broke Nashville’s Black community into multiple House districts, diluting their voting power and eliminating another Democratic seat.
GOP pickups by gerrymander: 5
Ohio defied a panel of federal judges that ruled their congressional map was a partisan gerrymander and used the illegal map, giving Republicans another House seat.
GOP pickups by gerrymander: 6
Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana violated the Voting Rights Act with racist gerrymanders that denied voters three additional Black-majority districts — one in each state.
GOP pickups by gerrymander: 9
Very few House Democrats actually lost their re-elections — Republicans gained more seats by running in new, gerrymandered districts than by challenging Democratic incumbents.
This is why I’ve pushed for the Senate to pass our House legislation, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the For the People Act. Republicans have made voter suppression a means to their end of controlling government. That goes against everything our democracy is supposed to be. And we cannot allow it to continue.
These pieces of legislation, passed by our Democratic House and buried by Mitch McConnell’s filibuster in the Senate, would set clear standards with independent redistricting commissions and the restoration of federal preclearance for maps in states with a history of voting rights violations.
It would expand voting rights with automatic and same-day registration, and expand options to vote-by-mail and vote early. Additionally, it would prevent purging of voter rolls, rein in our out-of-control campaign finance system created by Citizens United, and strengthen election security.
Some Senate Democrats have been reluctant to abolish the filibuster. That’s a tragic mistake. And this month’s election results show how urgent this matter is to guarantee fair and equal representation in Congress.
We have limited time in the lame duck session of Congress before Republicans take over the House majority to address these glaring issues that are eroding our democracy.
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We cannot afford to wait. There is no telling what extreme lengths that House Republicans will go to in order to sabotage and stall the Biden administration’s efforts.
Conducting the 2024 election with states using the same illegal maps they manipulated into handing Republicans the House majority is not an option.
Frank, this is so important, so I will ask one more time:
Thanks for raising your voice on this important matter.
— Adam
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