Gerrymandering. Although most of us just see it as a vocab word we need to know for our civics classes, gerrymandering is an immense part of our political system and culture. After the 10-year census, state governments, in most cases state legislatures, are tasked with redrawing congressional maps in their states to reflect population changes. Although this process should be fair, some state legislatures redraw the congressional maps in a way that benefits their particular political party, which is referred to as gerrymandering. Gerrymandering plays a huge part in determining the control of the House of Representatives until the next reapportionment, affecting the legislative process for an entire decade. Political parties can gain majorities in the House of Representatives solely through the work of gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering was immensely prevalent in our electoral maps this past decade, and it was a huge reason why Republicans controlled the House for most of Barack Obama’s terms as president. During the 2010 election, Republicans gained majorities in an array of state legislatures, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, mainly due to Democrats’ immense unpopularity at the time. These wins allowed them to gerrymander to their heart’s content during 2011, and that they did. For example, in Pennsylvania, a state that should have been equally represented by Democrats and Republicans, Republicans’ gerrymandering allowed them to win 13 out of the 18 congressional districts during the 2012 Election. 

Now, a new census has been completed, and the lines once again have to be redrawn. The difference between 2011 and 2021, however, is that this year, Democrats control a wider number of state legislatures, especially in population-heavy states such as California and New York. This should hypothetically allow them to gerrymander as well, essentially neutralizing the Republican gerrymanders.

However, Democrats in key states like California and Colorado have completely diminished their gerrymandering power and have allowed for the installation of non-partisan, independent redistricting commissions that will draw the maps for them. This move is infuriating and nonsensical. Democrats in these states are allowing themselves to be steamrolled in the House of Representatives by the Republican gerrymanders that will soon come. They are unilaterally disarming, while Republicans will continue to blatantly gerrymander their states.

Until there is a nationwide federal law that completely bans partisan gerrymandering, Democrats should absolutely gerrymander the states they control as a way to counter Republican gerrymanders. If Democrats keep playing fair and establishing independent commissions, Republicans will undoubtedly gain the House of Representatives in 2022 and will have an advantage for all of the House elections of the decade.

In order to ensure overall fairness in the House, Democrats need to aggressively gerrymander in states such as New York, Maryland, and Illinois. When it comes to gerrymandering, you have to fight fire with fire.