Emmett Shell

A Primer on 2021 Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is a time-honored tradition in American politics. Every ten years, in the states that have sufficient power, Democrats or Republicans figure out how to draw lines to lock in their legislative power as comprehensively and permanently as they can. Gerrymandering works by drawing lines in a certain way to maximize the number of seats a party wins, either in the House of Representatives or in the State House and State Senate.

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Do the VA and NJ results spell trouble for Democrats?

In November, Democrats lost a Governor’s race in Virginia, a state Biden won by 10, and they barely held on in New Jersey even though Biden won it by 16 just a year earlier. National media outlets and so-called political experts were quick to chalk the losses up to Biden’s lowered popularity and Congressional Democrats’ inability to deliver on his Build Back Better agenda. There’s little doubt that the national political headwinds contributed to the party’s struggles last month, but the story may be more complicated.

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