Why did Max Sandlin perform so poorly in 2004?

[Miles]

I've been trying to figure this out for a while. Sandlin was, I think, the most tragic casualty of the DeLaymander. Sure, the additions of Longview and Tyler made him the underdog; still, both those cities had been sending Ralph Hall (as a Democrat) to Congress for years. I know Gohmert is based in Tyler though, and he got almost 70% in Smith county.

Also, most of the counties along the Louisiana border had that had easily supported Sandlin in past cycles flipped to Gohmert.

What happened? I thought Sandlin sounded much better in the debate. Were Bush's coattails just too strong?

[freepcrusher]

I've been trying to figure this out for a while. Sandlin was, I think, the most tragic casualty of the DeLaymander. Sure, the additions of Longview and Tyler made him the underdog; still, both those cities had been sending Ralph Hall (as a Democrat) to Congress for years. I know Gohmert is based in Tyler though, and he got almost 70% in Smith county.

Also, most of the counties along the Louisiana border had that had easily supported Sandlin in past cycles flipped to Gohmert.

What happened? I thought Sandlin sounded much better in the debate. Were Bush's coattails just too strong?

probably a combination of a bunch of factors. It hurt that the northern counties which were his strongholds were excised. Also, Hall was far more conservative than Sandlin and had the ability to do much better in them than him.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Because Sandlin would have lost anyway. Most of the others would have gone down then as well, most likely. Or not so very long afterwards. It's hilarious, but that most notorious of gerrymanders turns out to have been something quite close to being a total waste of time.

[freepcrusher]

correct. Even under the 2002 map, all the targeted democrats would have lost anyways except for Frost. They would have lost in 2010 instead of 2004.