Trump endorses illegally-gerrymandered Congressional districts

February 24

On This Day In 2018

What the Republicans did: In 2012, elected officials from the GOP gerrymandered the Congressional districts in the state of Pennsylvania to their advantage. They were highly effective at meeting their goals: Although the People voted roughly 50:50 for Democrats and Republicans, the GOP’s maneuvering helped them to a 13-to-5 advantage in Congressional seats. The PA Supreme Court ruled the gerrymandering to be “clearly, plainly and palpably” illegal, and ordered a non-partisan re-draw of the district boundaries for 2018.

OTDI 2018, in a foreshadowing of Trump’s weighing-in on key election decisions, he publicly proclaimed:

{btw, isn’t it weird that he keeps calling things “Democrat” instead of using a proper adjective?}

The correction: The Supreme Court denied Pennsylvania’s GOP efforts to block the new maps. Under the new impartial system, in the subsequent election with fairer maps, in an evenly-divided state, the Democrats won 9 of the 18 seats.

Sources/Links for further reading

• The New York Times has the story

• The Philadelphia Inquirer describes the Supreme Court’s actions

• Politico tracked the 2018 vote

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Summary: Trump endorses illegally-gerrymandered districts