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[Redistricting Roundup]
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The State of Play
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As of March 2, 2022, 38 of the 44 states with more than one congressional district have finalized new congressional maps. 39 states have finalized new legislative maps.
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All told, 54 cases around the country have challenged newly passed congressional or legislative maps as racially discriminatory or partisan gerrymanders — or both.
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Featured Piece
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The Fight for Fair Maps in Ohio
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The fight over maps in Ohio continues, with voters and organizations challenging legislative maps objecting to a third set of maps passed by the Ohio Redistricting Commission. The plaintiffs claim that these maps still unduly favor Republicans and are urging the court to impose remedies to ensure compliance with its orders and produce a fair map.
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“The commission has now defied multiple orders from the Ohio Supreme Court and doubled down on blatantly unfair maps. Enough is enough,” said Yurij Rudensky, senior counsel in the Democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “This is a betrayal of Ohio’s voters, who deserve fair maps.” |
The voters and groups challenging maps have also requested to intervene in a federal lawsuit where Republican voters are asking the court to impose a map that had previously been deemed a Republican gerrymander by the Ohio Supreme Court. |
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Featured Maps
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In 2012, the New York Senate was controlled by Republicans, who wanted to create a map that would preserve a GOP state senate majority. One strategy to accomplish this was to systematically overpopulate Democratic-leaning districts downstate and underpopulate more Republican upstate districts, as seen in the map below. In almost every case, the deviations from the average senate district population were significant. The effect was to have more senate districts in Republican parts of the state and fewer in Democratic areas.
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In 2022, when New York Senate Democrats — now in the majority — redrew the map, they did the opposite, creating overpopulated upstate districts and underpopulated districts in the New York City region, though Democrats’ population shifts were not as aggressive as those of Republicans a decade earlier. Republicans are currently challenging the redrawn senate map in state court.
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Redistricting in the News
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is doubling down on his threat to veto any congressional redistricting proposal that includes a district he deems unconstitutional. At issue is FL-5, a plurality-Black district connecting Tallahassee and Jacksonville that the governor has targeted and
that was eliminated in the most recent map passed by the Florida House. |
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The new congressional and legislative plans in Minnesota include several districts that would increase opportunities for Native Americans’ political representation, including MN-8, a congressional district that would include all of the state’s seven Anishinaabe tribes. The maps were drawn by a five-judge panel and subsequently approved by the Minnesota Supreme Court. The enacted maps reflect the political mobilization of a coalition of tribes across Minnesota, and Native American candidates from both parties have already filed to run in the newly formed districts. |
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A panel of North Carolina Superior Court judges rejected the redrawn congressional map enacted by the Republican-led legislature as too partisan and instead adopted a congressional map drawn by special masters. However, it approved the legislature’s redraw of the state house and senate boundaries. The North Carolina Supreme Court subsequently affirmed the trial court’s decisions. |
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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court selected a new congressional map drawn by a special master who used a “least-change” approach. While some district boundaries changed, the map overall reflects the near-even partisan divide of the state, with nine Republican-leaning districts and eight Democratic-leaning districts. |
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Black voters in Arkansas are appealing a federal court ruling that there is no private right of action under the Voting Rights Act. As the Brennan Center’s Michael Li put it, “It’s a wild argument, but in a world where courts may be willing to entertain wild
arguments... People are clearly gunning for the Voting Rights Act and they will see what courts will sign off on.” |
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In Tennessee, Democratic voters, with support from the state and national parties, have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Bill Lee (R) claiming that the state legislative maps unnecessarily divide counties. |
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You can find earlier editions of our Redistricting Roundup here.
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