Extreme GOP gerrymanders have remade American politics over the last 15 years.
They have locked Republicans into office in state legislatures nationwide,
even in purple states when Democratic candidates win more votes.
They have delivered a reliable and enduring edge to the GOP in the race for Congress.
Perhaps most importantly, they have entrenched hard-right lawmakers and insulated them from the ballot box,
allowing them to enact conservative policies on reproductive rights and public education that are rejected by majorities of voters.
Now Texas Republicans,
spurred by Donald Trump,
have readied a brazen mid-decade power grab
that would award them as many as five additional seats in Congress.
This would be a dramatic boost heading into the midterms,
since the GOP only holds a three-seat majority.
California has threatened to retaliate with a mid-decade redraw of its own.
Other blue state governors are talking tough as well.
But Republicans have more targets.
They won’t stop in Texas.
They will probably redraw Ohio, Missouri, Indiana and Florida as well.
How did we get here?
How did gerrymandered lines, rather than voters, gain the power to determine winners and losers?
The modern story really begins in 2008
with the election of Barack Obama
and a blue wave that delivered Democrats trifecta power and even a US Senate supermajority.
On television that election night,
even the sharpest Republican analysts spoke of unbreakable emerging coalitions and demographic changes
that could provide Democrats with majorities for a generation.
It didn’t exactly work that way.
💥A handful of savvy Republican strategists recognized that while 2008 may have been historic, 2010 could be much more consequential.
It would be a census year.
And after every census, the nation redistricts every state legislature and US House seat.
A lightbulb went off at the Republican state leadership committee (RSLC).
Executive director Chris Jankowski recognized the opportunity first:
target states where the legislature controls redistricting.
Pour millions into underfunded state legislative races.
Drown Democratic incumbents.
Flip as many chambers as possible.
Redraw the lines.
If Republicans could pull it off,
they would go from demographically challenged to the catbird seat for a decade.
“We should do this,” Jankowski remembered, in an interview for my book Ratf**ked.
“I think we can get millions – and you don’t have to do anything other than what you were going to do anyway.”
They called this #Redmap,
short for the Redistricting Majority Project.
It transformed the nation.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/09/gerrymandering-republican-redistricting?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
