One week after the U.S. Supreme Court boosted Republican redistricting efforts in a major ruling out of Louisiana, GOP voters got their first chance to weigh in on the issue. And it's safe to say they are all in. Six of seven Republican lawmakers in Indiana who opposed President Trump's redistricting efforts in that state lost their primaries this week, many defeated by wide margins. "It's a political earthquake in Indiana, and it was confirmed by what just happened in Tennessee," says Bo Kabala, political science professor at Tarleton State University.
What happened in Tennessee was state lawmakers approved a new map that effectively wiped out the state's only Democrat congressional district. This after Texas and Florida already approved redrawn maps, while Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi are all moving to do the same. Kabala says the election results in Indiana only add more momentum to the redistricting train. "This shows it's very clearly a priority, not just for the president, but for grassroots voters," he tells KTRH. "And in my opinion, the Supreme Court decision that's just been handed down makes it legally much more possible to go ahead and reshape political maps."
While Democrats have moved to redraw their maps in blue states like California, Illinois, New York and Virginia, Kabala believes the "redistricting wars" favor Republicans in the long term. "As state legislators go to work doing redraws post-Louisiana, I think you're looking at an advantage of 10-20 plus seats on the Republican side," he says. "Maybe not all this year, because litigation takes time, but certainly overall this is advantage GOP."
Photo: Dorwart, Mike (uploader)