Redistricting Battles Escalate as Missouri, California Respond to partisan โขMapmaking
JEFFERSON CITY, โMO & SACRAMENTO, CA – A wave โof partisan โฃredistricting efforts is โsweeping โฃthe nation, withโข Missouri and California the latest states to redraw congressional โmaps in response to โขmoves by โother โขstates, raising concerns about the futureโข of fair elections. The actions come as former Presidentโ Trumpโค has reportedly urged Republican states to aggressively reshape districts to maximize GOP depiction.
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe called a special legislative session in September, resulting in a new map likely to flip the Kansas City-area’s 5th Congressional District, currently held byโค Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, toโ Republican control. โThisโ would leave St. Louis’ 1st District as the state’s sole Democratic-held seat in the eight-member House delegation. Aโ citizen-led initiative,โ peoplenotpoliticiansmo.org,is underway to challengeโ the Missouri redistricting plan.
The Missouri move follows similar โฃefforts in โTexas and North Carolina, โboth of which have approved re-gerrymandered maps this year. Indiana, โOhio, and Florida are alsoโ consideringโข redrawing districts.
Meanwhile,California voters recently โapproved a measure temporarily suspending the state’sโ nonpartisan redistricting commission,established in 2010. The move โคallows theโข state legislature to โredraw โฃcongressionalโ lines, a response to the โpartisan mapmaking occurring in other states. This is projected to create five additional Democraticโค seats in California’s 52-seat delegation, currently held by 43 โDemocrats and โค9 Republicans.
The California commission, praised โfor its impartiality, previously removedโข the redistricting process from the hands of politicians. Theโฃ suspension is set to expire inโข 2030,at which point the state will revert to theโ nonpartisan commission model.
The escalating cycle of redistricting โขis prompting other โฃblue states, including Illinois and Virginia, to consider similar responses. Expertsโ warn that without intervention, this could lead to frequent, pre-midterm map โฃrevisions by both parties,โฃ further eroding democraticโข principles.
As previouslyโข argued, gerrymandering – the manipulation of district โboundaries forโฃ partisan advantage – undermines โคthe essential principle โคof voters choosing โtheir representatives.