Many posts have discussed reapportionment and redistricting -- much in the news now because of looming gerrymanders in Texas and California.
Texas Republicans, at the urging of President Donald Trump, have redrawn their state’s congressional districts to give the GOP an advantage in next year’s midterm elections. The effort has led to a countermove by California to redraw its districts to give Democrats an edge. Several other states reportedly are considering similar moves.
Midcycle redistricting efforts like the ones in Texas and California have, up to now, been extremely uncommon. Since 1970, only two states – Texas in 2003 and this year, and Georgia in 2005 – have voluntarily redrawn their congressional maps between censuses for partisan advantage, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.
When midcycle redistricting occurs, it’s usually because courts have thrown out the previous maps for violating state or federal law. In fact, 36 of the 40 midcycle redistricting changes since 1970 have either been made in response to a court order (20) or imposed by a court itself (16). In addition to Texas and Georgia, California is also an exception: After the 1982 elections, lawmakers passed a revised version of the congressional map that voters had rejected in a referendum earlier that year.
