Republicans Didn't 'Win' The House or State Legislatures - They Stole Them

Voter Suppression. (Illustration by DonkeyHotey)

Amid America’s demographic changes, Republicans have exploited every trick they can think of to stave off actual democracy, where every vote is respected and equal. One scheme has been to modernize the old practice of “gerrymandering,” as Beverly Bandler explains.

By Beverly Bandler
In Election 2012, Democrats received 1.4 million more votes for the U.S. House of Representatives, yet Republicans won control of the House by a 234-to-201 margin. Thus, the second-biggest GOP majority in 60 years was not the will of American voters. It was gerrymandered.

Or, as Republican strategist Karl Rove has said, “He who controls redistricting can control Congress.”

Gerrymandering has become the preferred way for Republicans to defy the principle of majority rule – or democracy – in an era in which whites are declining as a percentage of the electorate. In other words, it’s a way to reduce the political influence of people of color as well as that of white demographic groups that tend to vote Democratic.

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