Democrats Should Push for Gerrymandering Reform
Mid-Cycle redistricting has created a once-in-a-generation chance to pass real reform. Democrats should seize it.
If you’re reading this, I probably don’t need to explain gerrymandering to you. I also probably don’t need to convince you that gerrymandering is bad. If I do, then frankly you are not my target audience and should probably stop reading. For everyone else, I want to make one simple point: now is the best chance we’ve had in decades to fight gerrymandering.
If I sound insane, it’s probably because I am. That doesn’t mean I’m wrong, though. Yes, by any reasonable metric we’re in the middle of the greatest escalation of gerrymandering in our nations history. Yes, even states that had passed nominal limits gerrymandering, like California and Ohio, are undoing those limits in an escalating tit-for-tat where states compete to draw more of the opposition out of their seats and yes, this is bad. Very bad. Like, potentially existentially bad for our democracy. I don’t want to live in a country where politics is reduced to partisan battles over who can draw the most absurd maps, and neither should you. If I wanted to live in a dysfunctional third world pseudo-democracy, I would move to the UK (Joking, joking. I would obviously move to France). I don’t want to do that though, and thankfully I may not have to, because as bad things are, this also represents the best conditions for reform that we’ve seen in a long time.
Between now and the 2026 elections, dozens of house members on both sides will be drawn out of their seats. Every one of those members will have a powerful incentive to fight back. For their careers, the stakes are quite literally existential. California alone will draw 5 or 6 Republicans out of their seats, and Texas has already drawn out the same number of Democrats. The House of Representatives currently has a governing margin of just 6 republicans, 5 if Representative Elect Adelita Grijalva ever gets sworn in (where are the Epstein Files, Donald?!). That means that a bipartisan coalition of desperate members could take control of the House, deny either side a majority, and demand passage of Gerrymandering reforms. They could refuse to move any legislation from the Senate until they passed such reforms as well. Democrats should push for this, as they are in the minority anyway and have more to lose in these gerrymandering fights. A coalition of Democrats plus blue state Republicans could force a bill through the House. If Democrats are smart, they could potentially get those same reforms through the senate and signed by the president.
Unfortunately, Democrats mostly are not smart when it comes to political strategy, at least in my experience as a Senate staffer (no shade to my many friends on their side, who actually tend to agree with me on this). As such, I will spell out in great detail how they can do this and why it must be done soon.
First, Democrats have some leverage left in the Senate. Though they stupidly gave up some of it by agreeing to pass a clean Continuing Resolution (CR) and end the shutdown, the CR only goes until January 30th, at which point they could force another shutdown. A second shutdown so soon would be embarrassing for Trump and for Republicans, whose poll numbers suffered significantly during the first one. In exchange for avoiding another shutdown, Democrats could demand passage of Bipartisan Gerrymandering Reform. This is a much more realistic ask than their previous demand for hundred of billions in healthcare spending, which was never going to happen (fight me, it’s true). In it’s simplest form it could just be a law stating that redistricting can only happen once a decade, and all the new maps since 2024 are moot. Ideally they would go further and ban partisan gerrymandering entirely, but they should be pragmatic here. If need be, Democrats could (and frankly should) sweeten the deal by offering up something Republicans (especially Trump) may want even more than a budget: nationwide voter ID.
Voter ID might seem out of left field, but I’m advocating Democrats make demands related to elections, so it’s reasonable that they should give something election-related to Republicans. Voter ID has the benefit of being both popular and good policy, it’s really something we should be doing anyway. By offering this long-sought concession to Republicans, Democrats could allow Trump to assume the mantle of Dealmaker, winning his signature and clearing the final hurdle to passage. I’m not saying it’s a sure thing, but it’s a far cry more likely than getting anything on healthcare.
There isn’t much time to get a deal like this, sadly. We have about a 3 month window in which Gerrymandering Reform seems feasible, because Democrats and blue state Republicans have both the incentive and (some) leverage to make a deal. If you or anyone you know works in politics, send them this article and tell them to make it happen. If you’re reading this, I probably don’t need to explain to you how high the stakes are.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing. This is a personal blog that I write when I have something to say that doesn’t fit in my Twitter feed. I used to be a Tech and Trade Staffer in the US Senate so I tend to write about semiconductors, technology, industry, and any other random topic I find interesting.