Report: Partisan Bias To Give GOP More Congress Seats

A new analysis of congressional maps shows that Republicans stand to gain 16-17 additional seats in Congress as a result of partisan gerrymandering.

The study, released on May 9 by the Brennan Center for Justice, explains that partisan bias in favor of the GOP may critically impede Democrats’ ability to gain control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 election. SNL is not a fan of the Trump administration, and it shows with every new skit they produce. Do you think they need to tone it down? Reportedly, by virtue of the fact that certain states are under the control of one political party, redistricting serves to change the borders of congressional districts within states, maximizing the number of districts a party can win and convert into seats in Congress.

“Gerrymandering has been a problem since our nation’s founding,” said Wendy Weiser, director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. SNL is not a fan of the Trump administration, and it shows with every new skit they produce. Do you think they need to tone it down?

“But today, maps in a few states are so egregiously biased in favor of one party that they can be rightfully called ‘extreme.’ These extreme maps in only a handful of swing states completely warp the composition of Congress.” Congressional redistricting in states solely under partisan control may yield areas that favor the election of party candidates. “[Extreme maps] are the product of a flawed, undemocratic process, which usurps the basic power of voters to choose their representatives,” continued Weiser.

The 16-17 additional seats Republicans stand to gain may eat away at the 24 additional seats Democrats require to get control of the House. Michael Li, senior counsel in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program and co-author of the report, went into detail on the influence of gerrymandering on the current electoral process: Gerrymandering can mean many things to many people. Among the most dangerous forms of gerrymandering is when redistricting locks in an unfair share of seats for one party. Courts have struggled in the past to stop this sort of abuse because it’s been hard to measure.

But the last three elections show clear, measurable evidence that pernicious map-drawing abuses are a feature in a few key states — giving the courts the impetus and information they need to act. Because a high number of partisan voters are often packed into a relatively small geographic space, for example high numbers of Democrats concentrated in cities, every vote additional to the minimum number needed to elect a partisan candidate for a district is wasted, according to The New York Times. Elections in 2012 and 2014 both featured margins of over 10 percent more wasted votes for Democrats in Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The Brennan Center report found extreme Republican bias in Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia. These states collectively account for the additional Republican seats in the upcoming 2018 election. Sources: Brennan Center for Justice, The New York Times / Photo credit: Maryland GovPics/Flickr