Republicans have won the redistricting battles, which promise to play a significant role in November’s midterms. This is a significant turnaround in the last few months.
You’ll see lots of happy liberals celebrating their complete dominance over Republicans when it comes to redistricting. They celebrated the GOP maps being struck down and praised the gerrymanders in New York and Illinois. They believed they had out-hustled the opposition and created an advantage going into the November mid-terms.
This proved to be a highly premature conclusion. Numerous outlets are now crunching numbers to determine the final national tally. This is a clear sign that Republicans have gained ground, despite a number of ridiculous court decisions.
We’re down to two possible outcomes of 2022 redistricting: a partisan wash or a modest GOP gain, depending on the final ruling on Dems’ NY congressional map.
Predictions from a few months ago of a much less skewed House map now look premature.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) April 27, 2022
Dave Wasserman is a Cook Political Report employee and claims to be “non-partisan.” But if you watch him closely, you’ll see that he is anything but. You can be sure he is expressing much hatred by making such an admission. It’s funny how he admits that things could be a “partisan wash”, while simultaneously lamenting that they won’t be “much more skewed.” Is it only because Democrats have an advantage that things are less skewed?
But, I digress. This is a complete turnaround from earlier in the year and it’s due to one thing: Republicans actually choosing to fight.
It is amazing what you can achieve when you aren’t willing to give up as the establishment did in Florida and Missouri. Particularly, Gov. The way Ron DeSantis managed the state was a masterpiece of political gamesmanship. He fought with his party members, some of whom publicly criticized him, for months before finally going to court to set the foundations and bending to his will. He fought for a fair and compact map of Florida, despite the fact the government had no official role. This is how winning looks.
The Republicans strengthened their spines to face Ohio and Alabama challenges, winning both fights where they were not expected to. New York is still in the pipeline. All the smart people believed that the Democrats had won. The state’s Supreme Court ruled in surprise that the Democrat gerrymander was invalidated because it clearly violated state fair map provisions.
Even if they lose that fight, the GOP will still win or come out ahead. Both of these outcomes are huge victories considering where things were before. A liberal judge forced North Carolina’s “fair map” to be redrawn in 2023. This will mean that Republicans will gain more ground before 2024.
While there is still much to do regarding the GOP, it’s evident that things are changing. A new generation of leaders is rising up to fight fire with fire, where folding was the norm in the past. It’s encouraging to see and will pay off in the fall.
