Democrats are struggling to convince the public that they are outraged that there is gerrymandering afoot in Texas. It is no easy task, particularly after Texas Democrats selected Illinois as their sanctuary state, a state considered the most gerrymandered in the country. Trump received 45 percent of the vote in the state, but Republicans have only 14 percent of the congressional seats. Even the New York Times admitted that gerrymandering has favored Democrats across the nation. However, the winner of the Claude Rains award must be Marc Elias, who has expressed disgust over the notion of gerrymandering despite the fact that his group was denounced by courts for outrageous gerrymandering efforts.
The origin of the term was based on re-districting associated with Elbridge Gerry, a Founding Father, vice president, and governor of Massachusetts. He signed off on a district designed to guarantee a seat for the precursor of today’s Democratic Party. The district resembled a salamander, so the Boston Gazette deemed it the “Gerry-mander.”
That effort pales in comparison to what was done in Illinois to deny Republicans a fair share of congressional seats. This is the Illinois map:
The 13th congressional district stretches from East St. Louis to Springfield, 90 miles away. It then takes a sharp turn east to grab Decatur and Champaign. This monstrosity was approved by Democrats who are now insisting that they will respond to Texas with a gerrymander war, as if they were political pacifists until a few days ago.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker portrayed his party as the victim of conniving pols and pledged to respond in kind. Yet, it was Pritzker who approved the redistricting that guaranteed that, while Republicans represent almost half of the voters, they will receive less than twenty percent of the congressional seats.
The same is true in California, where Governor Gavin Newsom is also pledging to retaliate despite previously engaging in rampant gerrymandering. Republicans constituted roughly 40 percent of the congressional vote in 2024 but received only about 17 percent of the House seats. Across the country in 17 blue states, the Dems won 56.7 percent of the popular House vote but secured 143 of the 185 House seats — 77.7 percent.
New York has achieved that same enhanced democratic representations despite the fact that Trump received 45 percent of the vote. Republicans are confined to a small handful of districts.
I have long opposed gerrymandering by both parties. However, the claims of disgust and outrage by Democrats border on the comical.
That brings us to Marc Elias, who is again trying to raise clients and donations off the outrage.
Elias has not only been sanctioned in past litigation, but past courts have also criticized his group. In Maryland, Elias filed in support of an abusive gerrymandering of the election districts that a court found violated not only Maryland law but the state constitution’s equal protection, free speech and free elections clauses. The court found that the map pushed by Elias “subverts the will of those governed.”
Elias is currently looking at a likely demand for testimony in the new grand jury investigation into the Russian conspiracy. He featured prominently in the filings of Special Counsel John Durham. It was Elias who made the key funding available to Fusion GPS, which in turn enlisted Steele to produce his now discredited dossier on Trump and his campaign.
During the campaign, reporters did ask about the possible connection to the campaign, but Clinton campaign officials denied any involvement. Weeks after the election, journalists discovered that the Clinton campaign hid payments for the Steele dossier as “legal fees” among the $5.6 million paid to Perkins Coie.
New York Times reporter Ken Vogel said at the time that Elias denied involvement in the anti-Trump dossier. When Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman declared, “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”
It was not just reporters who asked the Clinton campaign about its role in the Steele dossier. John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, was questioned by Congress and categorically denied any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who reportedly said nothing to correct the misleading information given to Congress.
With the likes of Marc Elias leading the cause against gerrymandering, the Democrats have reached a level of hypocrisy that knows no equal.
For the public, this growing war should support a movement to put an end to gerrymandering by all parties. Politicians will then have to look to voters, not maps to maintain their power.
This gerrymander war proves the view of Carl von Clausewitz that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.”