LA 2019 Gov Race: Gov John Bel Edwards wins a 2nd term

[Nyvin]

I would say Edwards is favored to win, but I've been terrible at predictions so far this year...

[Nyvin]

That's the key word : they are elected while federal judges are not elected.

They potentially benefit from the map while federal judges don't.

[Nyvin]

At least this map has been drawn by people who have been populary elected. (which wouldn't be the case of a map drawn by federal unelected judges)

Who cares whether they have been elected or not? As long as the map is reasonably fair to the people (and not just Republicans), then that is all that actually matters. And I'd bet dollars to doughnuts you'd be singing a different tune if it was Democrats controlling the state and rigging elections and not Republicans. See how you like it when your only recourse is the judiciary, because the system is so corrupt that there is no way to stop a bunch of power hungry politicians from drawing one set of gerrymanders after another.

Don’t worry, dude ; democrats are also experts at rigging elections with gerrymandered maps when they have the ability to do it : - IL ; CT ; MD ; OR -

And be sure that democrats will likely adopt a very aggressive strategy in Virginia in two years when it comes to drawing the new congressional map.

So what exactly is your solution then...?   Just duke it out and whoever wins the gerrymandering game wins?

BTW - Oregon and Connecticut are hardly gerrymanders.    They're both pretty plain, ordinary maps.

[Nyvin]

It would be really simple for both parties to stop, at least for Congressional districts. Just pass a bill in Congress mandating independent or at least bipartisan commissions with strict rules against drawing seats to protect incumbents, favor political parties, etc. They could even pass a constitutional amendment to that effect.

But only Republicans seem to be resisting that effort. It's not even a difference of opinion on specifics. It's a flat out refusal to even consider the idea.

House bill HR1, which passed the Democrat controlled House,  would've established independent commissions in all states (with mandatory public input), and banned mid decade redistricting unless ordered by a court.

The Democrats are at least "trying" to achieve fair districts, Republicans are the ones perfectly happy to keep rigging the maps.