New Progressive Redistricting Coalition Forms With Eyes On Just Nine States

FILE - In this Tuesday, May 8, 2018, file photo, voters leave a polling place in Charlotte, N.C. On Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, judges affirmed their earlier decision striking North Carolina's congressional districts as u... FILE - In this Tuesday, May 8, 2018, file photo, voters leave a polling place in Charlotte, N.C. On Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, judges affirmed their earlier decision striking North Carolina's congressional districts as unconstitutional because Republicans drew them with excessive partisanship. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File) MORE LESS
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A trio of progressive organizations founded in the wake of President Trump’s election are joining forces to focus on just one issue: gerrymandering.

The Grassroots Redistricting Project — a coalition formed by Swing Left, Run for Something, and Arena — announced Tuesday that it was established to “help end the unfair Republican practice of rigging maps to win elections.”

“If Democrats don’t win back key state legislative chambers in 2020, Republicans will continue to draw unfair district maps such that we’ll lose the House in 2022—even if Democrats get more votes—and never, ever in it back,” the project’s website reads.

The targets are state legislative races in just nine swing states key to national control: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas.

They’re the same targets that the Grassroots Redistricting Project’s larger cousin, former attorney general Eric Holder’s National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), has identified as must-wins before the once-a-decade redistricting process gets underway in 2021.

Both groups say they’re not interested in gerrymandering congressional and legislative maps to benefit Democrats, but instead want a seat at the table when those new maps get drawn. The NDRC has backed ballot initiatives to form independent or bipartisan citizen-led redistricting commissions in states like Michigan so that partisan lawmakers no longer control this process.

The GOP’s answer to these organizations, the National Republican Redistricting Trust (NRRT), insists that such commissions are “easily and often gamed by the Dems.” The NRRT is also pouring millions into state legislative races with the 2021 redistricting process in mind and the explicit goal of securing maps that further entrench Republican control at the state level.

The Grassroots Redistricting Project is adapting a three-pronged approach to make headway in their target states, per their site. Run for Something will recruit state legislative candidates; Swing Left will raise money for the candidates and coordinate volunteers; and Arena will recruit and train campaign staff.

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Notable Replies

  1. Support them as far as you can:

    The 2018 Blue Wave was incredible—but the Associated Press determined that Democrats would have won 16 additional seats in the House of Representatives if the GOP hadn’t [already] gerrymandered districts to give themselves a huge structural advantage.

    That’s why Swing Left, Run for Something, and Arena are teaming up on the Grassroots Redistricting Project, to help Democrats flip key state legislatures across the country in 2020 and redraw fair district maps.

  2. Avatar for noonm noonm says:

    Honestly, Democrats should give two options:

    1. Some form of independent redistricting commission.
    2. A Dem gerrymander so skewed it will give you a nose bleed.

    The GOP is already overrepresented due to the rural bias of the Senate. At the very least, the house should represent America.

  3. I want to hear more talks about the Wyoming Rule.

  4. THe only wAy for LibTards to win is CheaTing. RepubliCans, and America, loseS when demonraTs draw maps!

  5. Avatar for meri meri says:

    But…but…then Democrats would be no better than the GOTPers!!!

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