Let's Get Ready to Rumble... over redistricting

Typical.

Apologies for the one word introduction, but nothing else sums up the situation as effectively and concisely.  According to The Hill, Illinois Republicans are set to file suit over the state's new redistricting map, which has recently been signed into law by the Democratic governor.  Republicans apparently are angry that they did not have control over the state when redistricting occurred, and are now threatening suit because the map looks suspicious to them.  The map, as it was when being proposed by the state legislature, is available here.

In defense of Republicans, Aaron Blake's article in the Washington Post does point to redistricting experts who find this redistricting comparable to one done by Texas Republicans nearly a decade ago to oust a half dozen Democrats.  What is difficult to square, however, is the dramatic reporting with the banality of the map itself.  If one simply looks at the map, it is plain to see that the rural areas are cut into large swaths of land, while metro Chicago is divided into linear tracts, spreading out into concentric suburbs.  No large hooks, no self-evident gerrymandering. 

As for state Democrats, the Governor has ensured that the map is fair, competitive, and protects the voting rights of minorities.  There is no need to mince words here: ensuring the rights of minority communities and individual citizens is far more important than than keeping a political machine comfortably in power.  Though written largely as personal opinion here, it is also law.  Still, Republicans will take to the airwaves and the courts to bemoan their plight.

This is typical because once again, Republicans are playing the victim while they in fact hold the upper hand.  In reality, they have no fear of loosing, and should secretly be preparing for a big win.  At present, Republicans hold a powerful majority of statehouses across the United States.  The states, of course, conduct the redistricting, which means that in all of those states in which Republicans hold a majority, they now have the power to carve up electoral territory as they see fit.  In principal, they can squeeze out many Democratic Congressmen while drawing up new districts just for new Republican contenders - not just in one state like Illinois - but across America.  The most frightening prospect here is conservatives being able to secure themselves a future in congress even while fast moving demographic changes are shifting the country away from such inland conservative ideology.

Republicans will not publicize these facts, and they certainly will not publicly celebrate their wins.  Instead, they will do what they do best, and cry about one state whose map they did not draw all by themselves.