"For the better part of 20 years, Republican politicians across the nation have taken advantage of whatever privileges their status as state legislators gave them to assure themselves of staying in office perpetually, or at least as long as they wanted. This has all been done at the expense of Democratic politicians and the minority groups many of them represent in Congress thanks to districts that Republicans have drawn for themselves from Texas to Florida and from West Virginia to the Dakotas."
"The GOP operatives never felt the slightest embarrassment or compunction about what they were doing, no matter how many times courts forced them to alter their maps and return to Square One in the gerrymandering wars. This all began when the order came down from Donald Trump in the Oval Office to Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, who despite his frequent toadying to the president nevertheless brags incessantly about what a political hotshot he is."
Republican state legislators have used their redistricting authority for nearly two decades to entrench themselves in office, crafting Congressional maps that weaken Democratic and minority representation across states from Texas to Florida and the Dakotas. Courts have repeatedly forced map changes, but operatives persisted without remorse. In one case, then-President Trump directed Texas Governor Gregg Abbott to reconfigure Houston-area districts to convert six minority districts into five White Republican districts and one minority district, a maneuver intended to secure long-term GOP control of the House. The Constitution mandates decennial redistricting after the Census, but partisan tactics have subverted that intention.
Read at The Mercury News
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