But isn’t that for US congress districts? I’d say the problem is as bad and arguably worse for Wisconsin STATE Assembly/Senate districts. GOP has 2/3 of one and almost 2/3 of the other (just shy of veto override) in a roughly 50/50 state (Some of this is due to how population is distributed, but not all of it)
Brian
Correct. Wisconsin’s US Congress districts are badly gerrymandered, but their state assembly and senate districts are ATROCIOUSLY gerrymandered – among the worst examples of the practice (objectively speaking – I believe I read that in a fivethirtyeight column.)
Update on the maps. The republican’s submitted a few options for maps, but were shot down because “Moving legislative district lines so GOP-gerrymandered incumbents get to keep their seats is just more gerrymandering. Basic stuff, folks.”
Then the GOP suddenly decided to accept Evers’ maps. I assume the maps Evers made weren’t as ‘bad’ as the ones the court was ready to enact if they couldn’t figure this out on their own.
So, here we are:
Yes, my understanding was GOP legislators approved Ever’s map because they thought the court might make even worse (for them) maps.
Brian
I wonder how much worse they were? If they weren’t too much worse, I would have expected them to accept the court’s maps, so they could spend the next umpteen years pretending to the the victims of this lawless supreme court and it’s illegal maps and it’s corrupt judges.
Wisconsin Democrats must have thought the court maps would be worse (i.e. better for them) since they mostly voted against Ever’s map.
While this is an improvement, one of the things that annoys me to no end is how Democrats consistently unilaterally disarm on redistricting while Republicans gleefully gerrymander states they control with laser-like precision.
I don’t have a good enough understanding of this subject, but it sounds like they’re concerned that republicans accepted it because they found a gotcha in there somewhere.
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Executive Director Nick Ramos called the process used by Republicans to introduce and pass Evers’ maps without a public hearing “extremely flawed.”
All but two Democrats voted against the maps in the Legislature, and some have expressed concern that the plans could amount to a “trojan horse.”
A theory has been circulating among some liberals, including U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, that Republicans only supported Evers’ maps because it opens a lane to a potential federal lawsuit before the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Evers signed the new maps.
My understanding of the gotcha was that the new maps would not go into effect until next year. Which means that the elections this year will be with the current gerrymandered maps. That gives the R’s two more years of power.
This article by the Guardian says that the new maps won’t be used for any special elections between now and November , but will be used in the general elections in the fall.
Evers signed the bill despite pressure from powerful Democrats in the state to veto it. When the bill made its way through the legislature, Democratic lawmakers opposed it nearly uniformly, citing concerns about a line in the bill that leaves the current maps in place for recalls and special elections ahead of the November general election. And they have expressed concerns about possible future legal challenges to the legislative maps and general distrust of the Republican legislators who agreed to the law’s passage.
My feeling reading that, it seems like they’re just reacting like abuse victims, who assume they’re still going to get hit. “Oh god, they finally said yes to something? Must be a plot! What did I miss?”
Sometimes a win is actually a win, but I can understand some people having a hard time of accepting that, after so many years of abuse. Learned reactions can be hard to overcome.
Same issue in Colorado but reversed. Just about 2/3 Dem in each House with the party breakdown as
28.6% D; 25.5% R; 44.1% unaffiliated; rest 3rd party.
This is nonsense.
In 2020 Biden won 55.40% of the vote in Colorado to Trump’s 41.90% and the Colorado House went 41 D to 24 R which is pretty much a normal, non-gerrymandered outcome.
In 2020 Biden won 49.45% of the vote in Wisconsin to Trump’s 48.82% and the Wisconsin assembly and the seats in the Wisconsin Assembly went 36 D to 63 R.
When you look at votes instead of voter registration, Colorado has not been a 50/50 state for a while. I think the last statewide Republican win was the Notorious Corey G in 2014.