Democrats are struggling to respond to a major redistricting setback in Virginia, with some party leaders discussing an audacious and possibly far-fetched idea for trying to restore a congressional map voided by the court but showing little indication they have a clear plan.
During a private discussion on Saturday that included Democratic House members from Virginia and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, the lawmakers vented anger at their defeat at the Virginia Supreme Court, spoke about a collective determination to flip two or three Republican-held seats under the existing map and discussed a bank-shot proposal to redraw the congressional lines anyway, according to three people who participated in the call and two others who were briefed on it.
The thing about this type of gerrymandering is that it can be countered by a large turnout of people voting for the disadvantaged party, because they’re spreading their supporters more thinly in more districts.
That said, the other election suppression measures trump has alluded to and will likely try are a lot harder to counter with such small margins (a county with 40% Trump voters, all of whom are armed and
serving as election observersintimidating the other voters, could absolutely swing the election in their favor, for example)Sounds like the disadvantaged party should do everything it can to win. Including, perish the thought, candidates that people actually want to vote for.