Republicans’ Gerrymandering Scheme Has Backfired, Expert Says | EUROtoday

When it involves gerrymandering efforts by Democrats and Republicans forward of the 2026 midterms, redistricting professional Jonathan Cervas believes one occasion at the moment has a bonus.

“If nothing changes, as [the districts] are right now, Democrats have clearly won this war,” Cervas mentioned in a Wednesday look on Mediaite founder Dan Abrams’ SiriusXM radio present. “Without a doubt.”

An assistant professor specializing in voting rights at Carnegie Mellon University, Cervas mentioned he was taking the passage of California’s Proposition 50, which is able to enable the state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature to redraw its congressional districts, and a federal district courtroom’s rejection of Texas’ mid-decade redistricting under consideration.

The 2025 elections have been extensively characterised as the primary electoral check of President Donald Trump’s second time period. By all accounts, the outlook for the GOP heading into the 2026 midterms is just not good.

The Democrats gained governorships in New Jersey and Virginia, and in New York City, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani defeated Trump’s candidate of alternative, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a decisive race for mayor.

Last month’s passage of Prop 50, nevertheless, could possibly be probably the most far-reaching of the Democrats’ current victories, as some political consultants consider it signifies the party-wide coalition that appeared to fracture after the 2024 presidential election could also be re-emerging.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, seen as a number one contender for the Democrats within the 2028 presidential election, touted the laws as a direct response to Texas’ mid-decade redistricting.

Days after Prop 50 was handed, a panel of federal judges blocked the congressional map adopted by the Texas Legislature in August ― which was drawn at Trump’s urging and shifted 5 seats at the moment held by Democrats into the GOP column ― by deeming it an unlawful race-based gerrymander. The state was ordered to make use of its 2021 maps for the midterms, an enormous blow within the Trump administration’s push to redistrict throughout the U.S.

As Cervas identified, nevertheless, the redistricting conflict is much from over. Elsewhere in his chat with Abrams, he was fast to level out the potential impression of the Supreme Court’s forthcoming ruling on the Voting Rights Act, which has been an efficient device towards racial gerrymandering and voter suppression.

“Half a dozen states or more could redistrict on a whim if the U.S. Supreme Court rules in a way that allows them to,” he mentioned. “And we just don’t know the answer to that question. So ultimately, who’s going to win the war is contingent on questions that we don’t know answers to yet.”

Watch Jonathan Cervas’ look on Dan Abrams’ SiriusXM radio present right here. His feedback on redistricting start across the 8:36 mark.