Historian: The Dems’ Gerrymandering Obsession

Based on this week’s oral arguments, Democrats are celebrating the possibility that the US Supreme Court may set constitutional limits on political gerrymandering, which currently works to GOP advantage, says Jeff Greenfield at Politico. But “if Democrats think this is the key to their political woes, they are kidding themselves. What ails the party — at every level — goes far beyond alleged Republican skulduggery.” Recent Democratic losses “did not happen because of gerrymandering (or voter suppression, for that matter).” After all, “for the GOP to use its power to entrench its majorities, it had to win those majorities” in state legislatures “in the first place.” And it did so because the party and its conservative allies “poured resources into a workmanlike effort to win control over state politics.”