Republicans are trying to gerrymander themselves into control of the House of Representatives — and they very well might succeed.
A seat in Tennessee here, seats in Ohio and Missouri there. Multiple seats, perhaps, in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia. There are more possibilities, and they add up. Draw lines on the map that flip enough Democratic districts to safe GOP ones (just five on net), and Democrats’ slim majority will likely be gone. If that happens, much of the battle for control of the House of Representatives in 2022 would be settled before it even began.
Gerrymandering is by far the most effective modern tool for a party seeking to swing election outcomes in the US. Instead of attempting to change which people turn out, they can, usually once a decade, simply change the district lines so that some votes will matter more than others. Barring an immense change in voting patterns, a well-executed gerrymander can nearly guarantee a party’s dominance in a congressional delegation or state legislative chamber.
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