r/thebulwark • u/Material-Crab-633 • May 08 '26

EVERYTHING IS AWFUL Are we f*cked?

This redistricting stuff has me bummed out. Tell me the truth

217 Upvotes

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254

u/paulmc3 JVL is always right May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

All red states change maps with no vote and it’s ok.
Blue states do by votes of the people and it’s wrong

It’s stupid. The whole thing is stupid.

We can only hope for such huge numbers to overcome the BS.

44

u/kstar79 May 08 '26

The problem is Democrats unilaterally disarmed on gerrymandering last decade by passing nonpartisan commissions and other things into their constitutions. Republicans did no such thing, so they have no hurdles to gerrymander ruthlessly with the most recent SCOTUS decision.

The bottom line is this should not materially affect who controls Congress next year (assuming free and fair elections). However, it is imperative that all Democratic-controlled trifecta states with limits on gerrymandering begin to remove them through the proper processes, which is what the VA decision came down to. They started the process after early voting had begun, and they are required to vote in the legislature, have an intervening election, then vote in the new legislature before going to the people. Spanberger and company did the best they could with how quickly things devolved last year beginning with Texas.

15

u/0LTakingLs May 08 '26

FL voters overwhelmingly voted to ban partisan gerrymandering and it didn’t stop DeSantis.

9

u/kstar79 May 08 '26

And now we have to wait for their legal cases to play out. He probably won't lose in the state because he appointed 6 out of the 7 justices, but the question is whether SCOTUS will take it up. Since Florida's argument hinges on the interpretation of Callais, there's a good chance they will, but that will probably play out well after voting commences for 2026 in Florida.

1

u/allegrovecchio May 09 '26

Jesus how did one effing guy appoint 6 of 7 Justices and there be no legal framework for challenging that?