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Can We Please End These Gerrymandering Wars Now?

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yesterday

Tuesday’s political earthquake upended the balance of power not only in Washington, but also in state capitols. Democrats now control both the governor’s offices and the state legislatures of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Minnesota. They flipped the governor’s office in Texas, Georgia, Ohio and Iowa. And they broke Republican supermajorities in eight states.

After a two-year gerrymandering arms race that saw Republicans try to build a “red wall” out of redrawn districts, it will be enormously tempting for both lame-duck Republican legislatures and newly powerful state-level Democrats to redraw more maps their own party’s advantage before 2028. They all should resist the urge — and start talking about ways to end this war.

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There’s a reason politicians like gerrymandering. It’s easier to pick your voters than to try to get the voters to pick you. But a hallmark of a democratic system is that power flows from the people. That can only happen when voters are free to choose representatives who represent their interests — and free to hold them to account. Gerrymandering distorts all that.

Although the GOP’s newly redrawn seats ultimately failed to save them from losing their majority on Tuesday, the........

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