Obama Leads Power-Thirsty Democrats to Eliminate Last GOP House District in Maryland & New Mexico
Barack Obama and Joe Biden sharing a laugh. / PHOTO: Associated Press
Even as Democrat-controlled state legislatures in Maryland and New Mexico broke up their congressional districts to eliminate the last remaining Republicans, the Democratic Party’s leaders have positioned themselves as anti-gerrymandering, The Hill reported.
Former President Barack Obama said this week that Democrats must ensure “that the redistricting process concludes in a way that ensures fairness, and reduces partisanship and polarization,” CNN reported.
Democrats have already “leveled the playing field” by “backing litigation, supporting reforms, and electing fair-map Democrats,” according to former Attorney General Eric Holder.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed the General Assembly’s congressional plan, but the Democrats overrode his veto thanks to their legislative supermajority.
Hogan stated that he will dispute the map in court.
Maryland is represented in the US House of Representatives with eight members. Seven of the seats are now held by Democrats, with one held by a Republican, but the new design, which includes lines that carve up counties and cities, threatens to expel the lone Republican, Rep. Andrew Harris.
Harris’ current district covers eastern Maryland on the Delaware border, and the proposed district covers the same territory, but with the addition of urban Anne Arundel County on the Chesapeake Bay’s western side.
The Princeton Gerrymandering Project analyzed the new district and concluded that it now has a 51 percent Democratic majority.
“This isn’t about fair representation. It’s basically trying to create an 8-0 map with very grotesque districts. You can’t do it with a straight face,” said state Sen. Justin Ready, a Republican who represents Carroll County. “It’s one thing for a map to be more favorable. It’s another for them to pass this Rorschach test.”
The New Mexico state legislature has also drawn a new congressional map that will almost certainly result in Rep. Yvette Herrell, the state’s last Republican, losing her seat.
Herrell represents a rural district in New Mexico, but Democrats have redrawn her district to include enough metropolitan Albuquerque residents to dilute the rural vote.
The Prince Gerrymandering Project reckons that the new congressional map leaves zero competitive districts.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say that [Democrats are] just responding to Republicans,” said Doug Spencer, an associate professor of law at the University of Colorado who runs the All About Redistricting website. “Despite all the rhetoric, they have shown themselves to be equally thirsty for power.”
