In both Wisconsin and Michigan, Democrats followed a similar formula last month to win the governorship and other key statewide offices: big turnout in urban centers and gains in white-collar suburbs. But in each state, Republican dominance of small-town and rural communities—reinforced by a highly partisan gerrymander of legislative district […] Read more »
Are Rural Voters the ‘Real’ Voters? Wisconsin Republicans Seem to Think So
In much of Wisconsin, “Madison and Milwaukee” are code words (to some, dog whistles) for the parts of the state that are nonwhite, elite, different: The cities are where people don’t have to work hard with their hands, because they’re collecting welfare or public-sector paychecks. That stereotype updates a very […] Read more »
A Split Decision in a Divided Nation
What the 2018 Midterms Mean for Succeeding in Washington CONT. – pdf Bruce Mehlman, Mehlman Castagnetti Read more »
What’s Stronger Than a Blue Wave? Gerrymandered Districts
When the blue wave came to North Carolina, the red levees held. In a year in which Democrats picked up as many as 41 House seats, including in places as conservative as Oklahoma and Utah, they lost all three of their targets for pickups in one of the nation’s most […] Read more »
The 2018 House elections may be historic enough to end the redistricting wars
The US midterm elections were historic in part because of the success of reforms to state redistricting processes. Citizens in Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, and Utah passed initiatives that take control of redistricting US House districts out of the hands of state legislatures. Reformers went undefeated, and this is a major […] Read more »
Midterm elections are likely to change the calculus for post-2020 Census redistricting
The redistricting wars, which since 2010 have worked to the advantage of the Republicans, are about to take a potentially significant turn. The midterm elections, along with efforts in states to reduce partisan redistricting, are likely to make the post-2020 battles more competitive. … A Pew Research Center study last […] Read more »