If you haven’t heard, Americans are growing increasingly tired of Democratic control. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading Democrats proved to the nation that the only things they really care about are more power and more money. And while they might be in control at the moment, with slim majorities in both congressional houses and a vastly diminishing approval rating of their beloved president Joe Biden, everyone sees the sinking ship the party has become.
Suffice it to say the writing is one wall, which is partly why some two dozen Democratic congressional members have recently announced their retirement.
But, of course, the remaining Democrats aren’t about to give up without a fight. And they can’t win legitimately unless there are a few cards up their sleeve…
The latest is the classic card of gerrymandering, the process of redistricting states in favor of one party or another. While it is rather common and has been used for both of the leading parties in the past, it is illegal, or at the very least unconstitutional, according to most state legislations.
New York, where the highest concentration of liberal Democrats resides, is no different.
And yet, the powers that be in the state have decided that newly drawn redistricting map is just what is needed… So that is exactly what they have done.
According to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight, the state currently has 19 Democratic representatives and eight Republicans, which isn’t all that unusual. However, the new map will change that adding another Democrat seat, taking four Republican seats, as well as keeping only two “competitive” districts.
As the outlet explained on Wednesday, the whole thing is basically “designed to give Democrats a huge advantage in the state.” It was reported that while the efficiency gap is only D+9, it grossly “understates how severely it would tilt the playing field toward Democrats.”
Now, I must point out that FiveThirtyEight is not known to be very conservative, not in the least. So don’t you start thinking this is simply a biased piece on how unfair the Democrats in New York are making things when reality doesn’t say the same?
Nope, this usually liberal loving outlet even went so far as to call this “an egregiously biased map.”
And I can’t say that I disagree.
This is basically allowing the state to add three Democratic-leaning seats while taking away three Republican ones. And of course, that’s in addition to taking away a competitive seat that could go either way according to the old map.
So how did they get this to pass the state legislature, which it most certainly did?
Well, as FiveThirtyEight points out, it is all made possible by the not-so bipartisan redistricting process in the state, and more specifically, the “new bipartisan redistricting commission.” They explain that under state law if the state’s legislature rejects the commission’s first two proposals for redistricting, the body is simply allowed to “draw its own map.”
And this is apparently, just what they have done.
They didn’t like what the commission offered to them, meaning it likely gave too much to the Republicans, especially after the state lost a seat of representation due to reapportionment after the 2020 Census. And so they made a map of their own that gives them exactly what they want.
And apparently, New York isn’t the only state to have proposed such an “egregiously biased” map in recent months. In fact, as The Washington Post reported, more than two dozen redistricting maps have recently passed in various states around the country, all with favor given to the Democrats. According to the outlet, Dems would “net an additional five districts that Joe Biden would have won in 2020.”
Did you wonder how Pelosi was going to weasel her way into keeping her seat of power? Well, this is it.
Then again, she may find that it doesn’t really matter all that much, given that so many Americans are unhappy with their Democratic leaders and our current sitting president. These maps may also find themselves in quite a bit of legal trouble if Republicans in those states have anything to say about it.
In any case, we shouldn’t be surprised that Democrats are getting desperate and, as a result, are resorting to desperate measures.
