The Redistricting Bump Goes To November’s Winners : NPR
There’s one crucial element to the midterm elections that’s largely passed under the radar — the issue of redistricting.
Every 10 years, after new census data is released, each state must re-draw its congressional districts. In a very few states, those lines are drawn by non-partisan commissions, but in most states, redistricting is just a part of the political game.
“Whomever has the power draws the lines,” former congresswoman Lynn Rivers tells NPR’s Guy Raz.
That means that the overall winner of November’s midterms could have a huge effect on elections to come.
The Power Party Draws The Districts
Rivers knows how much state-level politics can change Congress better than most. She lost her seat in 2002, after nearly a decade, when redistricting pitted her against fellow incumbent Democrat John Dingell.
“We look at federal redistricting and we think of Congress somehow being in control of it,” Rivers says. “In fact, it is the state government that controls the redistricting — the redrawing of congressional districts after the reallocation of seats.”