Redistricting Debate: Republicans Should Catch Up, Former Rep Says

Republicans must continue to pursue redistricting efforts because Democrats have been doing the same for years, and GOP-led states should not “unilaterally disarm” as courts weigh challenges to new maps. Former Rep. Bob Good said on Saturday.

“It was also ‘good news’ that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has reinstated Texas’ congressional map after the state requested an emergency stay from the high court, allowing the state to keep using the map it passed earlier this summer,” said Good, a Virginia Republican. “They ought to be able to proceed.” “In Texas, Democrats have been doing this for years. They’re far ahead of Republicans in partisan redistricting. … Republicans should be allowed to catch up and do the same thing the Democrats have been doing for a long time.”

Former Rep. Jason Altmire, R-Pa., also on Saturday’s show, said the broader issue is that both parties have used partisan mapmaking over the years but warned that mid-decade redistricting, without a census mandate, threatens the democratic process. “Both sides have done it for decades,” he said. “It’s been a way to gain the occasional seat here and there in the state.” But now, the census is not in play, said Altmire.

“This isn’t the 10-year annual, the 10-year redistricting,” he said. “This is something in the middle of the decade when states all across the country, now California, perhaps Indiana, Maryland, certainly Texas, which we’re talking about, are redrawing the lines for partisan advantage.”

Good agreed that states frequently face legal challenges but said partisan mapmaking is already common across the country. “There’s typically legal challenges, as we know, when there are these partisan efforts to do this,” he said. “It’s happening in Virginia, in my home state.” Still, there is an opportunity in Texas, he said.

“Republicans and Democrats have both been doing it,” he said. “Democrats have been doing it more and doing it more successfully.” “I happen to like it when Republicans do it. I don’t like it when Democrats do it,” he added. “That’s how politicians are.” Still, there is “nothing wrong” with redistricting, except “when you’re doing it on a racial basis and Democrats cry race,” Good said. “That’s their answer to everything, of course, and there’s no evidence that the Republicans in Texas are doing it on a racial basis.”

Altmire said reforms are needed and urged states to remove politicians from the process entirely. “I absolutely think it should be done by an independent commission,” he said. There’s no reason why politicians should be choosing their voters.

He also cautioned Republicans that overly aggressive maps can backfire in a wave election. Good agreed that independent commissions may be ideal, but said that Republicans cannot afford to forego partisan mapping while Democrats continue to use it. “Republicans can’t fail to do it when, again, Democrats have been doing it for years,” he said. “You’ve got states like New Hampshire, which is controlled by the Republican state legislature, but no Republicans in Congress in the entire six-state delegation that is the state of New England.”

He said Virginia’s bipartisan commission worked well in the past but warned that Democrats are preparing to reshape the state’s maps again for political advantage. “I agree with the former colleague from Pennsylvania that it’d be best if it were drawn by bipartisan commissions, and it made sense geographically,” said Good. “But that’s not been happening across the country with Democrats in states like California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, and we can go on down the list,” he concluded.