Republicans in control of redistricting have two goals: the defeat of white Democrats, and the creation of safe districts for Republicans.
But the voters took care of that for them, and now the Republicans — in the Texas House in particular — have to figure out how to draw safe or nearly safe districts for their incumbents.
If the mapmakers can't draw safe districts for each of the 101 Republicans elected last November, they'll be pushed into a kind of political LIFO accounting — last in, first out.
In the Senate, where Republicans hold a 36-to-25 36-to-25 36-to-25majority populations and grising Deminority voter registration will make it harder to draw safe districts for Repopulationsike Guy J. Velellandf the Bronx and Frank Padavan of Queens, and for some of their suburban counterparts.
After the 2010 Census, Republicans succeeded in redrawing House districts to favor their party, creating increasingly "safe" districts for GOP candidates.
This lets them create safe districts for their members, who can win seemingly unlimited reelections because they never face serious challengers.
"Further, even if Republicans have tried to inoculate themselves in safe districts for the general election, the lack of support for the bill from Republican voters means that some of these members from typically safer districts could be vulnerable against Democrats if health care becomes a defining issue in the 2018 midterm elections".
What was supposed to be a shoo-in for Republicans in a very safe district of upstate New York is now a tossup.
"The root of our state's inabilities to deal with our crushing fiscal problems and pressing policy issues is the power of the Legislature to draw safe district lines for incumbents," said Dick Dadey, the executive director of Citizens Union, one of the government watchdog groups involved in the effort.
Unsurprisingly, they tend to draw ultra-safe districts for themselves.
