• ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Gerrymandering wasn’t a talking point until the unprecedented Republican wins in the 2010 election that let them control the redistricting process for the majority of states. This led to nearly a decade of republican control in many states that were traditionally purple/mixed.

    In previous census years control of state legislations was more balanced, so maybe the Democrats lost a seat in Florida, but they gained one in Ohio, so nationally things stayed about the same. Gerrymandering occasionally got brought up in egregious case, but nothing like today where it gets used as a reason when it’s not even applicable.

    • GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Gerrymandering wasn’t a talking point until the unprecedented Republican wins in the 2010 election

      Uh, it’s been a talking point for over 200 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering

      The word gerrymander (originally written Gerry-mander; a portmanteau of the name Gerry and the animal salamander) was used for the first time in the Boston Gazette[b] on 26 March 1812 in