Since the early days of his campaign, from his proposal to build a wall along the Mexican border to his discredited committee on voter fraud, President Trump has declared war on America’s changing demography. His administration has followed through on that strategy with a proposal to add a question to […] Read more »
Pioneer of modern redistricting dies at 75
For more than four decades, when Republicans needed strategic advice drawing political boundaries, the party turned to a small cadre of expert cartographers, trained in the rare art of redistricting. At the heart of that group was Tom Hofeller. A mild-mannered California native who rarely allowed himself to be quoted […] Read more »
A Census Question That Could Change How Power Is Divided in America
A citizenship question on the 2020 census has already drawn challenges from states that fear an undercount of immigrants and a loss of federal funds. But demographers say there could be even deeper consequences: The question could generate the data necessary to redefine how political power is apportioned in America. […] Read more »
Politics Podcast: The (Partisan) Politics Of Immigration
The FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast looks at the Trump administration’s practice of separating immigrant parents and children at the border and assesses the role that immigration plays in the Republican Party overall. The crew also reacts to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Monday decision on gerrymandering. Finally, the team continues a series […] Read more »
U.S. population keeps growing, but House of Representatives is same size as in Taft era
The U.S. House of Representatives has one voting member for every 747,000 or so Americans. That’s by far the highest population-to-representative ratio among a peer group of industrialized democracies, and the highest it’s been in U.S. history. And with the size of the House capped by law and the country’s […] Read more »
The Surprising History and Uncertain Future of Gerrymandering
Both parties have always played the redistricting game. But some of today’s battles have roots in a Supreme Court decision 30 years ago. Retro Report, New York Times Read more »