dagblog - Comments for "New York’s Top Court Voids Democrat-Drawn House Map"

Culture war redistricting:

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 23 May 2022 19:59:41 +0000

Culture war redistricting:

Studies find Americans increasingly geographically divided by political party. This segregation is visible on county-by-county election maps, where big metropolitan areas tend to be colored deep blue, and rural areas deep red.

Gwinnett and Forsyth are next to each other, affected by many of the same cultural and economic trends, yet in 2020 Gwinnett voted 58% for President Biden and Forsyth voted 65% for Trump.

It's not clear from studies how often people move specifically for political reasons, but our random interviews found people who said they did.

Esther Harding lived in Gwinnett years ago, when its populace was more Republican. After seeing the county change, she moved a year and a half ago to a new neighborhood in Forsyth.

This recently built neighborhood in Forsyth County, Ga., is in a rapidly growing area that now has its own new state legislative district and is one of the areas where an NPR team went door to door talking with voters.
Steve Inskeep/NPR
"Forsyth is a great county to live in," she said. "It's not as Democratic ruled as Gwinnett is. ... That's super important for us because, you know, we have values and in Gwinnett, you don't get those."

Asked which values she meant, she listed opposition to illegal immigration, opposition to abortion and her concern about "what the kids are being taught in school."

Her main concern is the governor's race.

"[I'm] just praying that Stacey Abrams won't take over," she said, referring to the Democratic candidate. Harding is concerned enough about this to support incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, even though she's unhappy with Kemp for affirming Trump's 2020 defeat.

Her next-door neighbor told us she moved from Los Angeles to Forsyth County partly because LA was "so Democratic," allowing too much "freedom" and "sexuality."

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/22/1100072832/georgia-voters-gwinnett-forsyth-2022-midterm-elections

Also Forsyth: https://www.npr.org/2017/12/08/569156832/the-racial-cleansing-that-drove-1-100-black-residents-out-of-forsyth-county-ga

Do both sides do it equally?

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 23 May 2022 19:26:00 +0000

In reply to Democrats talk about

Do both sides do it equally?

Pretty sure Yang never has to defend his glib statements in detail.

Quick Google notes the Republicans had used gerrymandering quite effectively to their advantage through 2012 (6% advantage?), even 2016, and Dem efforts to "claw" that back since have at some points down to 2% GOP advantage

https://www.vox.com/22961590/redistricting-gerrymandering-house-2022-mid...

(while Biden'a attempt to ban the practice was filibustered by the Senate)

BusInsider explains (2017):

https://www.businessinsider.com/partisan-gerrymandering-has-benefited-re...

Michigan provides a good example of how the formula works.

Last fall, voters statewide split their ballots essentially 50-50 between Republican and Democratic state House candidates. Yet Republicans won 57 percent of the House seats, claiming 63 seats to the Democrats’ 47. That amounted to an efficiency gap of 10.3 percent in favor of Michigan’s Republicans, one of the highest advantages among all states.

That also marked the third straight Michigan House election since redistricting with double-digit efficiency gaps favoring Republicans. Stephanopoulos said such a trend is “virtually unprecedented” and indicative of a durable Republican advantage

Sam Wang analyzes/debunks the "both sides" bit:

https://election.princeton.edu/2012/12/30/gerrymanders-part-1-busting-th...

So I've been totally re

artappraiser — Mon, 23 May 2022 18:17:40 +0000

In reply to New York’s Top Court Voids Democrat-Drawn House Map

So I've been totally re-districted by the special master. I used this, which only works for NYC:

Courtesy of @THECITYNY's @willwelch, @rachelholliday, and @alykatzz: https://t.co/o36YJ69GVy
— Daniel Marans (@danielmarans) May 22, 2022

My two cents after looking at the results: my rejiggered districts for U.S. Congress and for NY State Assembly make infinitely more sense that the gerrymandered messes that they were before! They truly represent actual neighborhoods. My district for NY State Senate, on the other hand, is a worse mess than it was before and I can't begin to understand why that is.

In related news, NY Dem politics has generally been nuked by the redistricting. There's a lot of longtime office holders now set to primary each other. And "NY 10" has especially become a joke line, that everyone and his uncle is running for it.

Democrats talk about

artappraiser — Fri, 20 May 2022 02:49:21 +0000

In reply to New York’s Top Court Voids Democrat-Drawn House Map

Democrats talk about defending democracy - but they gerrymander as furiously as anyone. See the NY redistricting fiasco when their proposed map was declared unconstitutional by dem-appointed judges.
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) May 20, 2022

The simple truth is that both parties do whatever they can to squelch competition - hence the record-high 90% uncompetitive Congressional districts.
— Andrew Yang(@AndrewYang) May 20, 2022

If you really wanted it to be fair you’d have third party - perhaps @Fwd_Party - Secretaries of State and redistricting commissions. As it is it’s like having the referees wearing a team jersey.
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) May 20, 2022

Florida Judge Says DeSantis’

artappraiser — Thu, 12 May 2022 04:10:55 +0000

In reply to New York’s Top Court Voids Democrat-Drawn House Map

Florida Judge Says DeSantis’ Gerrymandered Congressional Map Is Unconstitutional https://t.co/tuQUZXJUyn via @TPM
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 11, 2022

Money quote, but do we have

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 05:05:58 +0000

In reply to .a real money sentence from

Money quote, but do we have any estimate how bad it was compared to the usual state gerrymandering?
Part may be the NY courts are a bit more progressive than say Texas, so they'll slap down even a bit of overt
gerrymandering, whereas the cowherders will go all in. (note current trends in Supreme Courty & extrapolate
downwards)

.a real money sentence from

artappraiser — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 02:16:31 +0000

In reply to New York’s Top Court Voids Democrat-Drawn House Map

.a real money sentence from the article

The judges additionally found that the congressional districts designed by Democrats violated an explicit state ban on partisan gerrymandering, undercutting the party’s national campaign to brand itself as the champion of voting rights.