Midterms: How Gerrymandering Could Undo Democracy or be Undone

FEATURING DAVID DALEY – Next week’s midterm elections are critical on many fronts. But what is getting little attention is how, despite all odds and facing great unpopularity, Republicans might still win House seats because of a little thing called “gerrymandering.” The GOP has played a long game, taking over state legislative bodies and winning governorships and slowly but surely tilting the shapes of Congressional districts in their favor. The practice is so insidious that in the state of Michigan for example, Republicans have managed to win 9 out of 14 Congressional seats in spite of losing the popular vote, three elections in row.

On the bright side, there are so many state legislative and gubernatorial seats in play on November 6th that just enough wins by enough Democrats could change the political power that has controlled redistricting. Earlier this year legal challenges to gerrymandering against both major parties headed to the Supreme Court but justices refused to rule on the cases.

David Daley, senior fellow for FairVote, former editor-in-chief of Salon, Digital Media Fellow for the Wilson Center for Humanities and the Arts, and the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, author of ‘Rat F**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy.’