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Report on congressional redistricting completely contradicts early media hysteria of GOP washout

December 23, 2021 | | Print Article

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Once again, mainstream media predictions that put Republicans in a harsh light are turning out to be overblown at best and outright false at worst, though that’s not necessarily a good thing for the GOP.

Ahead of the publication this fall and winter of newly redrawn congressional districts following the 2020 Census, several mainstream outlets predicted that Republican-led state legislatures, of which there are more than those led by Democrats, would use their majorities to “gerrymander” districts in ways that favored GOP candidates.

But it turns out those predictions are not coming to fruition.

Dave Wasserman from the Cook Political Report noted in a Twitter thread on Wednesday that the 2022 redistricting process appears to be producing more “Biden-won congressional districts,” though admittedly, the process is just getting underway.

“National update: on the current trajectory, there will actually be a few *more* Biden-won congressional districts after redistricting than there are now (224/435),” he wrote.

“That said, there are going to be dozens of narrowly Biden-won seats that are very tenuous for Dems in a rough cycle (esp. in AZ, OH, MI, VA, NV). The biggest threat to Dems’ House majority isn’t redistricting; it’s Biden’s approval rating,” he added.

Nevertheless, freelancer Drew Holden posted several examples of media reports hyping fears that Republicans would gerrymander House districts to ensure they would be able to control the chamber indefinitely, to include a New York Times report in November headlined, “Republicans Gain Heavy House Edge in 2022 as Gerrymandered Maps Emerge.”

The New York Times faced pushback in September when the outlet attempted to push the notion that congressional district gerrymandering is a “tactic long used” by the GOP instead of being used by both Republicans and Democrats.

“Facing high stakes in the next midterms, New York Democrats are considering a tactic long used by the Republican Party: gerrymandering,” the paper’s Twitter account noted.

In August, meanwhile, far-left MSNBC host Joy Reid also claimed that GOP gerrymandering will “disenfranchise millions of Americans.”

“Meanwhile, we are gonna have to walk and chew gum at the same time, folks. At this hour, voting rights in the U.S. are still hanging by a thread. Gerrymandering is about to disenfranchise millions of Americans of color who the Census show should be gaining more power, not less,” she wrote on Twitter.

“We are facing a national security threat from white nationalists who feel empowered and emboldened, thanks to a former president of the United States and a major political party that’s willing to ride violent extremism into power,” she added.

CNN got into the act as well, claiming that redistricting was purely a GOP conspiracy.

John Avlon said in an October “New Day” segment that Republicans were attempting to “artificially increase” red districts in Texas.

“But Republicans controlled the state legislature. They weren’t about to make the congressional districts more representative of the actual electorate. No. So they went to work drawing districts that artificially increased their own advantage, connecting suburban districts with sprawling, rural communities, consolidating minority-heavy areas and generally painting Texas red,” Avlon claimed.

Jon Dougherty
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