But any new map would be in effect for only one election, as all states with more than one congressional district are required to redraw their maps following the 2020 Census. The surging growth of the state’s cities and suburbs, he said, could complicate the ability to create GOP-friendly seats. "The real worry is these fast-growing states in the South.". It includes part of Macomb County with cities like Warren, Sterling Heights, Fraser and Eastpointe, as well as part of Oakland County including Ferndale, Hazel Park, Madison Heights and up to Bloomfield Township. The 2016 map was challenged in federal court as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, but the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that partisan gerrymandering claims have no business before federal courts. Gerrymandering, in other words, is the practice of setting boundaries of electoral districts to favor specific political interests within legislative bodies, often resulting in districts with convoluted, winding boundaries rather than compact areas. They're targeting state legislative races in a dozen states, with more than half below the Mason-Dixon line. One district was shaped like a strange salamander like wings. "Now — finally — the era of Republican gerrymandering in the state is coming to an end.”. A North Carolina state court has ruled the state cannot proceed with next year’s House primaries under its current congressional map, temporarily setting aside the GOP-drawn districts in a potential boon for Democrats. Belt Magazine is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Democratic-linked plaintiffs in the case are likely to “prevail on the merits of this action by showing beyond a reasonable doubt that the … congressional districts are extreme partisan gerrymanders in violation” of the state constitution’s “Free Elections Clause,” the court said. In a fair system, the borders of these districts would be more locally concentrated, allowing elections to be much more competitive. A three-judge panel in Wake County preparing to hear a case over whether the congressional districts are politically gerrymandered granted a motion Monday to put the map on ice. Eight is probably the magic number with the redraw,” said GOP Rep. David Rouzer, who noted he’s run under two different maps during his three elections. In an imperfect political system like ours, down-ballot races—and their constitutionality—still matter. These redrawn districts are often clearly designed to cut out certain groups like racial and religious minorities or working class citizens. The Ohio 4th is the most egregious result of a heavily gerrymandered Ohio congressional map. Using district boundary files from the Census, I calculated compactness scores for each of the districts of the 113th Congress and mapped them so you can see where the least compact -- and likely most-gerrymandered --districts are. It is represented by a Republican. Anne Trubek is the founder and publisher of Belt Publishing, and was the founding editor of Belt Magazine. And the way to do this is to draw outlandishly-shaped districts that bring far-flung geographic areas together. Districts that follow a generally regular shape tend to be compact, while those that have a lot of squiggles and offshoots and tentacle-looking protuberances tend to score poorly on this measure. The 4th and the 2nd are now safely Republican, while the 5th is safely Democrat. This is because an outsized share of the state's Democratic voters were shunted off into the three highly-gerrymandered districts above. North Florida's two largest cities, Jacksonville and Tallahassee, have been split in half and joined together to create the 5th district. Districts that follow a generally regular shape tend to be compact, while those that have a lot of squiggles and offshoots and tentacle-looking protuberances tend to score poorly on this measure. Overall, the North Carolina GOP's efforts paid off handsomely. Maybe spending the next four months attending to these districts and elections—reporting on them, informing ourselves about their races—would not be so hard after all. In 1812, Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry backed a redistricting plan favoring his own party, the Democrat-Republicans. The third, Jeffrey Sites, does not have a website. It is currently Republican. Jim Jordan, as most of us are now well aware, is one of the most outspoken and aggressive right-wing members of the House of Representatives. Given that, both parties say the Ohio Statehouse is a top target in 2020. "You'll see kind of more blatant partisanship," he told NBC News. CORRECTION (Dec. 29, 2019, 11:24 a.m. After the court ruling, the Republicans in the state legislature produced a new congressional map. Michigan's third congressional district includes cities including Battle Creek and Grand Rapids. Gerrymandering happens when those new districts are redrawn in a way that benefits one party over the other. It wraps around Ann Arbor in Washtenaw County and is currently Republican. The final district in Michigan includes parts of Wayne and Oakland counties. Now, operatives in both parties are readying for an unprecedented fight in 2020 to elect those who will be the mapmakers in state legislative races across the country. The last time this happened was in 2010, and it will happen again in 2020. "I'm bound and determined to make sure that candidates, activists and voters understand the stakes of the redistricting battle and the long-term consequences for our democracy," Holder said in a statement. Pleasant, Midland and Big Rapids and is currently Republican. John Boehner once called Jordan, the founder of the far-right Freedom Caucus, an “asshole” and “a legislative terrorist.” Jordan came to politics from wrestling, where he was an assistant coach at Ohio State during the tenure of Richard Strauss, who has been accused of sexually abusing more than fifty men, and of which Jordan was reportedly aware. It is easy to take gerrymandering as a fact of politics, even though it has become demonstrably clear that every congressional election is important. Vicuña said the Supreme Court's decision has put in place a "new legal playing field" for partisan gerrymandering and lawmakers can be expected to try to take advantage of that when they are drawing the House maps. The group and its affiliates recently announced they had raised $52 million since 2017. Due to its odd shape, it was nicknamed "Goofy Kicking Donald Duck.". Maryland is proof that gerrymandering isn't just a Republican pastime, as the state's Democrats redrew those boundaries in 2012. If they wanted to gerrymander next year, they'll likely have the power. Michigan's fifth congressional district is a strip of land that stretches from the east portion of northern lower Michigan down along Lake Huron through Saginaw and into Flint. Boundaries in Kentucky were drawn up by that state's mixed legislature. That led Democrats seeking to challenge GOP-drawn maps to file suit in state courts. In Ohio, voters passed a referendum last year requiring bipartisan support for redistricting plans in an attempt to prevent one party from forcing their House maps on the other. It is currently Republican. Gerrymandering is when those district boundaries are drawn to favor one party. The map - if approved - will likely make Pennsylvania elections more competitive in the future. For a sense of just how ridiculous gerrymandered districts look, nothing beats a visual. A decade ago, North Carolina's 11th congressional district was competitive and included the Democratic stronghold of Asheville.

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