ECSNorway Wrote:What you get is districts gerrymandered to produce safe results in some states, such as California, Texas, or New York.Not in California, not any more. I was a former resident of California's "Ribbon of Shame", the 23rd Congressional district, but now reside in the 26th District which mostly follows the county lines. The new California Citizens Redistricting Commission's maps produced many competitive races -- a couple of which are close enough that absentee votes still being counted could determine the winner.
And despite the fact that the commission contained an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, the Dems still picked up 5 congressional seats in California. Republicans are losing traction here because they're being clobbered by demographic changes and a lack of organization at the state party. It also doesn't help that most California conservatives are anti-tax libertarians, and don't care about social issues, so the message of national GOP election hurts them on those issues.
So now we get to go forward with a state government controlled by a supermajority of Democrats, with Democrats controlling all statewide offices. And ironically, the most moderating voice on the state government is likely to be Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown. The good new for Republicans here is that the races will still be competitive in 2 years, and they can come back and win if they can come up with some new ideas. But in the meantime, I for one welcome our new Democratic overlords.
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