View this email in your browser

**APRIL 30, 2021**

Kuttner on TAP

Threats to the Dems in 2022

****

Joe Biden will enjoy enormous tailwinds going into the 2022 midterms,
with a resurging economy, a subsiding pandemic, and citizens
appreciating practical help. Normally, that might be enough to offset
the mid-term jinx of the president's party losing House seats. But
these are not normal times.

First, the good news. Redistricting in the wake of the 2020 census was
going to be a nightmare for Democrats, but it turns out to be almost a
wash. Because of slower than anticipated population change in much of
the country, there are fewer gains and losses

than predicted.

Some states gaining or losing seats have shifted to nonpartisan
commissions. Some others that still have partisan districting are
controlled by Democrats. In still others, Republicans will lose seats.
The consensus is that redistricting will probably cost

Democrats around five seats net.
With a House majority of just ten, of course, every seat counts. But
redistricting is not the cataclysm that had been predicted.

The far bigger problem is the new wave of voter suppression, compounded
by vote-rigging efforts, as Republican-controlled states take the
election administration process away from secretaries of state and
traditional nonpartisan officials and put it in the hands of
politicians. Republicans don't want a repeat of Georgia 2020, where
honest conservatives resisted crude attempts to alter the count, and
gave Biden the state and Democrats control of the Senate.

Three things can spare us a stolen election in 2022, and none of them is
a sure thing. Thing one: Even the Supreme Court might decide that enough
is enough, as the Roberts Court did last fall when it swatted down one
state Republican effort after another to steal votes after the fact.

Thing two: Congress might succeed in enacting some variant on either HR
1 or HR 4 to protect voting rights. But that will take a waiver of the
filibuster. (Does Joe Manchin care if Democrats lose the House? Maybe
that makes him even more powerful as bipartisan broker.)

If federal voting rights legislation or a repentant Supreme Court fails
to protect voting rights, that leaves one remedy-the greatest voter
mobilization ever. Against all odds, mobilization beat suppression in
2018 and 2020. The odds will likely be even longer in 2022, and the
mobilization needs to be that much greater.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

[link removed]

Which Side Is Gary Gensler on?

Why did the new SEC chair appoint Wall Street power lawyer Alex Oh,
cited for ethics violations while representing Exxon, to head the
commission's enforcement division? BY ROBERT KUTTNER

How Michael Bloomberg's Former Campaign Manager Became Andrew Yang's
Favorite Fixer

The similarities between the two campaigns don't stop there. BY DAVID
MOORE

Cicely Tyson: A Shining Titan of Black Excellence

In an exceptional memoir, one of the greatest actresses in American film
deconstructs her craft and bears witness to history. BY CATE YOUNG

Altercation: Paid to Lie

On the boundless and hugely remunerative cynicism of Rupert Murdoch and
his faux-news fabricators BY ERIC ALTERMAN

To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe. 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

Copyright (c) 2021 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States