For years, Democrats led the charge against partisan gerrymandering. They called it an existential threat to democracy. They promoted independent commissions. They backed voter-led reforms. And they rightly accused Republicans of weaponizing redistricting to entrench power. Now, facing a potential GOP map grab in Texas and similar moves across red states, Democrats are preparing to abandon those ideals and fight fire with fire.
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, founder of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, made the pivot explicit: “We must preserve our democracy now in order to ultimately heal it.” In other words, break the rules today, fix them tomorrow.
It’s a dangerous message — and a deeply cynical one. It tells voters that the only way to protect democracy is to play the same dirty game. But if everyone abandons the rules, what’s left to protect?
That said, when it comes to redistricting, Republican behavior remains the root rot. They are not just guilty of partisan gerrymandering; they are the original architects of its modern abuse. From former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s 2003 Texas map rigging to today’s brazen mid-decade redrawing efforts, Republicans have long treated redistricting as a blunt-force political weapon. In Texas, GOP leaders are pursuing a mid-cycle map redraw purely to increase their advantage, ignoring the decade-based norm and daring the courts to object. Similar plays are brewing in Ohio, Florida and Georgia, where Republican legislatures have trampled voter-passed reforms, stacked courts and gutted independent commissions.
These aren’t just tactical moves; they are full-on assaults on democratic norms. And because Republicans control the legislature in 23 states — compared to just 15 for Democrats — they are in a position to do more damage, more often and more efficiently.
That doesn’t make them clever. It makes them dangerous and deeply irresponsible.
But Democrats responding in kind is not the answer. Moves to override voter-approved commissions in California or engineer mid-decade map changes in New York aren’t reform, they’re escalation. And while Democrats may feel justified, they risk ceding the moral high ground and alienating the very voters who want fairer, less politicized systems.
There’s also a stark reality: Democrats are playing on a smaller field. In a redistricting arms race, the side with fewer statehouses is bound to lose. Worse still, they may lose something more important than seats: the trust of voters who supported reform in the first place.
Polling consistently shows that Americans oppose gerrymandering. Nearly 60% support nonpartisan redistricting. Voters in red and blue states have passed ballot initiatives to curb partisan abuse. Even Chief Justice John Roberts, in a 2019 Supreme Court opinion, cited those state-level reforms as proof that democracy could correct itself.
That fragile progress is now under threat from both sides. When Republican majorities bulldoze reforms and Democratic governors shrug off voter-passed restrictions as optional, the message is clear: rules are for suckers.
Yes, the stakes are high. But if both parties commit to a strategy of rigging, revenge and rationalization, then the real loser is the public — and the idea of democracy itself.
The harder, longer path of structural reform and principled restraint isn’t glamorous. But it’s the only route that preserves legitimacy. If we abandon it, we will not be saving democracy.
We will just be managing its collapse.
