Gerrymander for Me, but Not for Thee
Drawing district lines is an inherently political enterprise, and parties tend to give themselves the best of it.
Let’s take a tour of the 13th congressional district in Illinois.
It starts in East St. Louis and then moves steadily north. By the time it gets to Springfield, home of Abraham Lincoln, about 90 miles away, it takes a sharp turn to the east, reaching Decatur and finally Champaign, itself about 80 miles away from Springfield.
It’s a jagged, narrow strip of territory with no obvious rhyme or reason as it traverses six counties. It’s less a congressional district than a road trip, and bears a resemblance to the original gerrymander, a long, salamander-like state senate district in Massachusetts in 1812.
The only point of the new 13th district lines, fashioned with the redistricting after the 2020 census, was to gather together far-flung Democrats to create another Democratic congressional district. Mission accomplished. The 13th district went from being a competitive district long held by a Republican to flipping to the Democrats in 2022.
Overall, Illinois lost one district after the 2020 census and managed to draw lines that changed the congressional ratio from a 13-5 Democratic advantage to a 14-3 Democratic advantage. The political analysis website 538 called the new map “the worst gerrymander in the country drawn by Democrats.”
This makes it especially inapt that a contingent of Texas Democrats fleeing the Lone Star State to try to stop what they consider unfair new congressional boundaries found a safe harbor in Illinois. Next time their travel agent should do a hypocrisy check before booking a destination.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker welcomed the self-exiling Democrats and hailed their courage. He told them that he and other top Democrats in the state were pleased “to stand in solidarity with you and send a clear message to all Americans.” His conscience showed no sign of being pricked by the fact that he signed off on the redistricting that saw Republicans in 2022 win nearly 44% of the popular vote in Illinois congressional races and only about 17% of the congressional seats.
A special session of the Texas legislature is considering new lines that could net Republicans another five seats. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has cited a Department of Justice letter saying that some of the current districts need to be redrawn because they represent unconstitutional racial gerrymandering (the Biden Justice Department had been fighting Texas because, in its view, the current lines didn’t reflect enough racial gerrymandering).
The Supreme Court is taking up a Louisiana case that should clarify the extent to which states can consider race in drawing so-called majority-minority districts. In the meantime, the partisan effect of the new Texas lines before the 2026 midterms is unmistakable. If Republicans were likely to lose five seats from the redistricting, there’s no doubt that the state’s Republican governor and Republican legislature wouldn’t be undertaking it.
Drawing district lines is an inherently political enterprise, and parties tend to give themselves the best of it. When Democrats controlled the Texas legislature, they maintained congressional lines in their favor. It wasn’t until Republicans won the state house for the first time since Reconstruction in 2002 that the GOP could redraw the congressional map and Republicans subsequently won a majority of Texas congressional seats in 2004, also for the first time since Reconstruction.
Since Democrats gerrymander too, they have limited options for retaliating against Texas. Pritzker says he may redraw his states lines, but this would require gerrymandering on top of his current gerrymander. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is making similar noises, but the California map is already tilted toward Democrats. Republicans won nearly 40% of the congressional vote in the Golden State in 2024, but only about 17% of the seats.
If the Texas plan goes through and all else remains equal, the Lone Star State will have about the same partisan skew as California.
Less gerrymandering would be better rather than more, but Democrats like Gov. Pritzker, who blessed his state’s meandering 13th district, have no standing to make the case.
© 2025 by King Features Syndicate
