Our Path forward

Defeating Trump’s Gerrymandering and Protecting Our Democracy

Democrats are poised to take back the House in November and overcome Donald Trump’s unprecedented gerrymandering because we rapidly mobilized to fight the war he began. If we had not, Congress would be locked in Republican hands for the foreseeable future. 

The Republicans’ unprecedented mid-decade map-drawing that Trump kicked off last year, aided and abetted by Republican state lawmakers eager to get in line, combined with an unbalanced judiciary constraining only one political party, has created an existential threat to American voters: denying the people their right to choose their government and enabling rampant corruption by limiting voters’ ability to hold politicians accountable. 

Trump’s new maps are not only unfair, they are also rooted in insidious racial discrimination. This modern-day iteration of political Jim Crow has already gerrymandered half a dozen Black and Latino members out of Congress, and could remove up to five more before November. 

The only way to put an end to this gerrymandering crisis once and for all is to enact a national ban on partisan gerrymandering—and this remains an essential goal. In order to get there, however, Democrats will need to ensure that we can level the playing field as Republicans continue this spiral.  

The rigorous, multi-front strategy outlined here and encompassing more than 25 states over the next three years is what’s required to stop Donald Trump and the Congressional GOP from unfairly rigging Congress against the American people. In order to meet this moment, we must treat each state individually to aggressively defend against GOP gerrymanders in states encompassing 130 districts, counter the GOP attacks with responsive action in states encompassing 142 districts, and there are 70 more districts in states where we can advance with success at the ballot box, expanding our possibilities.

  • Defend Against: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas
  • Counter With: California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, Virginia
  • Advance In: Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin

Make no mistake, we are in a moment like no other before us and we must work together to rise and fight for democracy. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee launched in 2017 with a clear-eyed understanding that the fight for our democracy would be waged map by map, district by district. This is the latest iteration of our fight. 

Defend States 

Republicans have made clear their disdain for American voters by pursuing a gerrymandering strategy designed to insulate the president and his puppet congress, no matter what the voters want. But the American people still have power, and they still have opportunities to stop further gerrymanders in Republican-controlled states.  

At Trump’s direction, Republican state legislators are maximizing partisan advantage by deliberately diminishing minority voting power. This strategy began last year in Texas, Missouri, and Florida. And it was turbocharged by the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which unleashed an even more disgraceful set of gerrymanders in Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina, which will diminish or even completely erase Black voters’ ability to access equal representation in those states. 

As the Supreme Court appears ever more comfortable with putting its thumb on the scale for the Republicans, and doing so at the explicit expense of communities long protected by civil rights laws at the heart of our representative democracy, our fight back must take on a more dynamic shape.

  • Grassroots Mobilization & Voter Referendums: Poll after poll, election after election, shows the American people are broadly and passionately opposed to Donald Trump’s gerrymandering. In states that allow voter-driven referendums, like Missouri, Redistricting Action and others are channeling voters’ righteous anger into these efforts.  There is an opportunity to overturn and prevent gerrymanders entirely. 
  • Voter Registration & Education: In newly redrawn and disenfranchised communities, supporting voter registration campaigns in tandem with public education campaigns that provide eligible voters with the information they need to cast a ballot is essential to build power. This work can harness the unprecedented frustration of voters that the Republican Party is trying to silence to shift the current partisan landscape. 
  • Strategic Legal Action: Despite what Republicans would like you to believe, voting in free and fair elections remains a fundamental and protected piece of our democratic infrastructure. Actively enforcing current laws in both state and federal courts remains a critical weapon against efforts to undermine Americans’ right to vote.

Counter States 

While Trump pushes Republicans to ruthlessly maximize partisan performance at voters’ expense, operating on a “fair play” standard isn’t a moral high ground; it’s extinction. The November midterms are in voters’ hands only because of people-driven efforts in California and Utah to counter Republicans’ gerrymanders. 

As Trump demands crooked maps in additional states, Democratic leaders need to step up by enacting new state maps that ladder up to a national congressional map that reflects the will of ALL the people—not merely MAGA voters in the most gerrymandered states. This can be done by leveraging a number of strategies:  

  • Assertive and Responsible Map Drawing: In states where Democratic leaders control the process—such as Illinois, Maryland, and Oregon—new maps to counter GOP gerrymanders and preserve national representation are needed. Nationally, the congressional map must reflect the American people as a whole and be responsive to their will.
  • Smarter, Data-Driven Maps: Advanced demographic data analysis and innovations in mapping allow for stronger, more durable maps, providing a reliable and fortified foundation against future efforts to lock in an insurmountable Republican advantage in the national map. Importantly, and especially in the wake of Callais, maps that reject the false choice between protecting communities and protecting our democracy are not just possible; they should be the standard. 
  • Work With Voters To Pass New Maps: Voters see the threat posed by Trump’s mid-decade gerrymandering.  In state after state, election after election, they are voting to counter it.  Engaging voters and working with them enables these responsive states to do exactly that—respond—faster and more aggressively.  Voters understand this is a critical moment to first save our democracy so that we then have the opportunity to continue our work to perfect it.

Advance States 

Additional opportunities to fight back against the Republicans’ gerrymandering scheme can be found beyond the states with Democratic-controlled state governments, which can push forward new maps. With gains at the ballot box in states with divided governments, longstanding institutional commissions, and highly competitive electorates, we can make even more progress to ensure control of the House of Representatives is left up to the American people, not Donald Trump. 

  • Winning Democratic Trifectas: In states like Wisconsin, winning control of the Governor’s office, state Senate, and state House is attainable with smart investments and coordination with partners. We can win these chambers and set the stage for a map-drawing effort to counter the Republican gerrymanders. 
  • Building and Defending Independent Judiciaries: In battlegrounds like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, state supreme courts can serve as an essential check on unconstitutional gerrymandering and election malfeasance. We must treat state supreme court elections as top-tier national priorities. Robust resources are needed to elect and protect jurists who are committed to fair representation and the rule of law.
  • Fortifying Legislative and Gubernatorial Firewalls: The upcoming midterms are an opportunity to deny Republicans trifecta control of state governments, even in states Trump carried by double-digit margins. The governor’s veto pen or control of a single legislative chamber is enough to effectively shield against egregious Trump-led maps.

Defeating this current wave of racial and partisan gerrymandering requires abandoning outdated playbooks. By working with the American public to level the playing field, defending our judicial and executive firewalls in battlegrounds, and refusing to relinquish our most precious and fundamental right to vote in free and fair elections, we can keep pushing to fulfill the founding promise of a representative democracy for all Americans. The deliberate, Trump-driven attempt to silence perceived dissension by silencing Black and Latino voters will be met with uncompromising resistance and unprecedented mobilization. 

The NDRC is ready for this fight.