A Civil Cold War Is Coming
The redistricting wars are only the beginning. Get ready for winner-take-EVERYTHING.
1. Escalation
Louisiana and Tennessee are rushing to get rid of their lone Democratic House members.
South Carolina and Alabama are on the verge of doing the same. Before the 2028 elections, Indiana will likely attempt to follow suit.
By then, other blue states will probably retaliate, having learned that the universal disarmament of anti-gerrymandering laws is political suicide. All of which is to say that the redistricting race of the last year is likely to become a much wider rush to create as many single-party congressional delegations as possible.
Jacob Rubashkin notes that in South Carolina, some Republicans are trying to flash the warning lights about the escalation Trump is demanding:
Here’s SC politics reporter Nick Reynolds:
Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, talking to reporters, says the below map “confirms the concerns that I've had all along.”
Says there will be another democratic president. And drawing out our lone Democrat could be bad for the state.
Shane Massey has to choose between gerrymandering and getting pushed out of the party by Trump.
Good luck with that.
But that’s not the important thing. What’s important is this: Redistricting isn’t the endpoint of winner-take-all politics.
It’s the start of it.
You want to get really dark about where we’re headed? Well buckle your chinstraps, boys and girls. Because this is about to get bad.