Republican gerrymandering is one of the biggest challenges Democrats face in winning back not just the House but state legislatures. That’s what the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, led by former Attorney General Eric Holder with support from former President Barack Obama, is trying to combat. For 2018, Holder’s group will focus on breaking Republican trifectas—cases where Republicans hold the governorship and both houses of the state legislature—so that Democrats have some voice if not total control of redistricting in more states in 2020:
Because of the broad authority Republicans hold in many states, and the favorable maps many Republican lawmakers have drawn for themselves, Mr. Holder said his group would spend money wherever Republicans appear to be vulnerable. In Ohio, that will mean pursuing not only the governorship but also the offices of state auditor and secretary of state, both of which play a role in shaping congressional maps. In Wisconsin and Florida, Mr. Holder’s group will help Democrats compete for the governorship and the State Senate majority.
In North Carolina, where there is a Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, but Republicans have control of the legislature by vast margins, the redistricting committee hopes to shave seats off the current Republican supermajorities.
Mr. Holder said he would campaign aggressively himself in some of these races, beginning with an election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court this spring. Both he and Mr. Obama will focus heavily on mobilizing African-American voters, Mr. Holder said.
Breaking Republican gerrymanders is the only route to a semi-fair electoral landscape at the congressional and state legislative levels, and that’s a project that will take more than one cycle. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee sounds like it has the right strategy.