Gerrymandering drives US politics mad — Congress, step in

The principle of one person, one vote — a defining feature of American democracy — means that every citizen has equal representation and an equal voice in our government.

As our nation has grown, redistricting protects equal representation: Congressional and other legislative districts must be revised following each decennial US Census to account for population changes.

Unfortunately, both Democrats and Republicans have sought to inject partisan gerrymandering into the redistricting process.

This pernicious tactic has quietly eroded the foundations of our democracy, as both parties manipulate district boundaries for political advantage and thereby polarize the electorate.

As gerrymandered Democrat and Republican-held districts become uncompetitive, elected officials lose their incentive to appeal to the middle and find common ground.

Instead, elected officials on both sides are forced to gravitate toward the extremes to guard against the threat of party primaries — pushing both parties further from the center and deeper into the partisan trenches, fracturing Congress and alienating everyday voters.

Through the compounding effect of partisan gerrymandering, bipartisan compromise has become increasingly rare at virtually every level of government — making it nearly impossible to solve critical issues like affordability and health care reform.

As recently as 2002, 125 districts in the US House of Representatives were considered “competitive” — that is, decided by 5% or less in presidential or congressional elections.

Two decades later, this number dropped by nearly 75% after successive rounds of gerrymandering in states like Illinois, judged by many to be the most egregious in America.

In 2024, fewer than 35 House seats were decided by 5% or less, highlighting how sharply competition has declined — and underscoring the urgent need for reform.

In 2014, New York voters recognized the dangers of partisan gerrymandering.

They overwhelmingly adopted an amendment to the state Constitution to remove party politics from the redistricting process.

Specifically, the New York state Constitution now requires congressional and state legislative district lines to respect minority rights and maintain communities of interest, and it explicitly forbids drawing districts to benefit incumbents or political parties.

To further remove politics in Washington or Albany from the redistricting process, the voters also created a bipartisan independent redistricting commission to ensure fairness and transparency as new lines are drawn.

Armed with the governor’s mansion and supermajority control (or close to it) over each state legislative chamber, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Democrats attempted to bypass these safeguards after the last census, ramming through a partisan congressional redistricting plan designed to disenfranchise the state’s Republican voters.

But New York’s highest court thwarted their nefarious scheme in 2022, resulting in the most competitive and fairly drawn congressional map in decades.

The Court of Appeals’ landmark decision demonstrated the importance of clearly defined constitutional standards coupled with independent judicial oversight.

Outside New York, however, the US Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling in Rucho v. Common Cause dealt a severe blow to those seeking to rein in partisan gerrymandering.

The 5-4 decision found that federal courts lack the jurisdiction to challenge even the most outrageous cases.

While Chief Justice John Roberts’ ruling recognized the harmful effects of gerrymandering, it left the issue to the states or Congress to resolve, effectively removing a crucial check on partisan abuses.

Now, c Gov. Greg Abbott’s expressly partisan attempt to redraw the state’s congressional districts — and bolster my own party’s ability to retain control of the House in the coming midterms —  has ignited an unseemly tit-for-tat redistricting race between red and blue states.

And despite my state’s explicit ban on both partisan and mid-decade redistricting, Hochul has publicly pledged to remove these protections from the state Constitution — and dismantle New York’s independent redistricting commission.

As this political arms race takes aim at American democracy from all sides, Congress has a responsibility to respond to the Supreme Court’s 2019 call.

We must adopt a national ban on partisan gerrymandering and strictly limit the redistricting process to a once-a-decade event following the US Census.

This solution will strengthen our democracy by ensuring that competitive districts — whose representatives must appeal broadly to their constituents — exist.

That will foster cooperation instead of partisanship and division in Congress.

Moreover, it will empower voters, restoring their ability to hold elected officials accountable through competitive elections.

The stakes are high and the time to act is now.

Let’s restore competition to our elections. Our democracy deserves nothing less.

Mike Lawler represents New York’s Hudson Valley area in the US House of Representatives.