Focused Read in 3-4 minutes
"Democrats Win Phase One of
the Redistricting Wars
In the crucial state of
Virginia, wins by the party in the governor’s mansion and the state
legislature give it a foothold in the 2020 mapping game.
After Virginia, the
Democratic Party is breathing a sigh of relief. The rather easy
victory for Governor-elect Ralph Northam stems the tide of recent
hemorrhaging of key positions across the United States to
Republicans, and continues Democrats’ control over a blue-ish
state. Northam’s victory, and that of Justin Fairfax, the second
black official elected in a statewide race in Virginia, also offers a
sign that virulent and race-baiting white-identity politics—politics
that characterize the Trump era and the late portion of Republican Ed
Gillespie’s campaign—are beatable, even in the cradle of the old
Confederacy.
Those signs are reason
enough for Democrats to celebrate. But the true national significance
of Northam’s victory, as well as of major gains by the party in the
General Assembly, might not be in the message they send, but the fact
that those gains constitute the first big victory for Democrats in
the political mapmaking game in at least a decade.
Republican hegemony in the
decennial political-redistricting game is well documented. The
competition to control just who draws each state’s political maps
has taken shape as an arms race, with Republicans capturing the
advantage over the past 20 years through a combination of technology,
big data, expertise, and electoral strategy.
The result has been a
set of some of the most contentious—and legally challenged—racial
and political gerrymanders in history. Bu
t despite the controversy,
Republican strength has also increased, as target states where
Republicans gained control of the mapmaking process in 2010 saw their
share of legislative seats steadily grow, even as their actual vote
shares decreased. In other words, these maps helped Republicans
retain majorities even when they earned substantially fewer votes.
… Via the
well-known redmap project, Republicans spent millions in
legislative and governors’ races in those states, resulting in huge
Republican gains, and also in Republican control over the 2011
redistricting process, which in turn engendered more Republican
gains.
While not one of the core
successes of redmap, Virginia was always a priority in long-term
strategy.
For one, the architect of redmap was Ed
Gillespie, the former Republican State Leadership Council leader whom
Northam beat yesterday... "
(Emphasis is mine! ^^^)
"With Republicans running
the same playbook in REDMAP 2020, and Democrats countering with a
well-funded redistricting scheme of their own, the National
Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), the 2017 Virginia election
was both the first and one of the most important battlegrounds
between the two efforts.
According to Kelly Ward, the executive
director of the NDRC, “a good portion of the Democratic
disadvantage in Congress boils down to seven states,” many of which
have seats and governorships on the table in 2018. “You have Ohio,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania,” Ward
says. “If Democrats can win those seats, then we have a seat at the
table during the redistricting process.”
What Ward’s group needed
to block a power play by Republicans in Virginia was a win in the
governor’s mansion or at least a stalemate in the statehouse. She
might’ve gotten both and more. Northam’s single term will take
him through the redistricting cycle. With somewhere between 15 and 19
seats flipped in the state legislature (pending recounts), Democrats
might even control the House of Delegates for now, while Republicans
still hold a slim advantage in the state Senate.
But the real test
again comes in 2019, when all of the seats in both the House of
Delegates and the Senate will be up for grabs in a final round of
jockeying for mapmaking. ... “
You can read more here
And
( you can learn more about the referenced National Democratic Redistricting Committee and let them know you are with them here )
Focused Thought in 30 seconds
(As the meme creator notes on her post, the last question and answer are hers! Courtesy of Lady Grey on Facebook )
*** See the Focused Action below where if you hit the link, before you share it, you will find a story about the Congresswoman Delbene asking the questions at a congressional hearing, with video clip included!)
Focused Action in 30 seconds
You can share Leslie's Tweet here
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→ Direct sources for Democrats:
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The Democratic Party Website
Also
C-SPAN (a good place for speeches & hearings direct source (s))
→ Some of my favorite, most informative
follows on Twitter include:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ US Intelligence | Author | Navy Senior Chief | NBC/MSNBC
⭐⭐⭐ Federal Government Operations | Vanity Fair | Newsweek | MSNBC Contributor | Author
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Voting Rights/Voter Suppression | Author | Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible media -- at the moment:
📰📰📰 Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible Talking Heads -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
📺📺📺 .8 The Beat With Ari on MSNBC
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(Linked) "...is our 2016 platform...a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
It’s a simple but powerful idea: We are stronger together."
(Remember 2018...)
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Curated by Gail Mountain, with occasional personal commentary, Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
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