# Why was it so important (for Republicans) for the GOP to win governorships in FL. TX and OH? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 8, 2018, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178 "2018-11-08T03:48:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/1 "2018-11-08T03:48:36Z")
How does this help Trump in 2020? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/2 "2018-11-08T03:52:18Z")
They will campaign on Trump’s behalf. And gerrymandering the House will help Trump indirectly. At the least, they won’t \*oppose \*Trump as he campaigns in their state. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/3 "2018-11-08T05:47:36Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > They will campaign on Trump’s behalf. And gerrymandering the House will help Trump indirectly. At the least, they won’t \*oppose \*Trump as he campaigns in their state. They can’t “gerrymander” the House districts between now and 2020; the next round of district drawing won’t take place until 2021 at the earliest, when the results of the 2020 census arrive. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/4 "2018-11-08T05:53:38Z")
Slight nitpick - I don’t think anyone seriously thought the GOP would lose the governorship in Texas. It looked like Florida was at risk, not so sure about Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/5 "2018-11-08T06:08:27Z")
Well, Ohio and Florida are important swing states and Florida is always a very close race where a Republican governor can use his position to suppress minority voting by creating impediments to their access to the polls as well as manipulate application of the law during any kind of recount. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/6 "2018-11-08T06:59:03Z")
They’ll have control of the election procedures. Look at what happened in Georgia this year. You’ll see the same thing happening in Florida, Ohio, and Texas in 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/7 "2018-11-08T14:19:32Z")
They will be around to sign the redistricting bills in 2021. That’s important. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/8 "2018-11-08T14:30:20Z")
The Ohio governor won’t. We finally got an anti-gerrymandering initiative through recently. It’s a terrible kludge, but it does take that power out of the politicians’ hands. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/9 "2018-11-08T18:28:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The Ohio governor won’t. We finally got an anti-gerrymandering initiative through recently. It’s a terrible kludge, but it does take that power out of the politicians’ hands. It’s not like the Republicans only know one trick to rig an election. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/10 "2018-11-08T18:53:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The Ohio governor won’t. We finally got an anti-gerrymandering initiative through recently. It’s a terrible kludge, but it does take that power out of the politicians’ hands. Uh, have you really read what that procedure does? I predict that the Republicans in control of the legislature will simply angle for a four-year map that gerrymanders the hell out of everything. All they have to do is refuse to agree to any other map than the one they want, and let the process playout through options 1-3, before getting to option 4, right? In any event, the governor still has veto power over a map. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/11 "2018-11-08T19:11:07Z")
Yes, and it’s the fine details that are important. Don’t just look at who ends up on the commission; look at the rules they’re required to follow in drawing the map. The commission (or whoever makes the final decision) will be partisan, because everyone in the US who’s involved in anything is partisan, but they’ll be working with their hands tied. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/12 "2018-11-08T19:41:45Z")
No Republican in history has ever won the presidency without carrying Ohio, so it is crucial to their success. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/13 "2018-11-09T00:44:06Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > They can’t “gerrymander” the House districts between now and 2020 Districts can be redrawn at any time. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-so-important-for-republicans-for-the-gop-to-win-governorships-in-fl-tx-and-oh/824178/14 "2018-11-09T03:30:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yes, and it’s the fine details that are important. Don’t just look at who ends up on the commission; look at the rules they’re required to follow in drawing the map. The commission (or whoever makes the final decision) will be partisan, because everyone in the US who’s involved in anything is partisan, but they’ll be working with their hands tied. You’ve missed the point. If I read the rules correctly, if it gets to step #4, THERE IS NO COMMISSION. It’s just business as usual, then. Am I wrong???