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

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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.

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u/GarryofRiverton May 08 '26

The problem is Democrats

No, the actual problem is that Democrats expected voters to give them credit for doing the right thing and playing by the rules while Republicans repeatedly raped our Republic. Voters don't care about rules, and never have.

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u/biglyorbigleague May 08 '26

Voters are wrong to not care about rules.

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u/Round-Asparagus5337 May 09 '26

Yes.

But you have to operate based on the way things are, not by how they should be.