Redistricting In The United States

Redistricting is the political process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, intended by the Framers to keep the electoral scales of democracy balanced. Instead, the process, as according to the Center for Voting and Democracy, “encourages the manipulation of our elections by allowing incumbent politicians to help partisan allies, hurt political enemies", and flips democracy on its head by allowing these politicians to choose their voters before the voters choose them. The article and the video adhere to the idea that redistricting allows for one political party to maintain political dominance and further political goals by drawing boundaries that protect incumbents and avoid demographic realities, rather than ensuring equal voting power and representation. However, incumbents are not always ensured a win. …show more content…
Himes’s win made New England’s House delegation entirely democratic, severely handicapping the Republican Party. Himes was virtually unknown at the start of the race and used his money to eventually beat Shays, who had very high name recognition and a longtime reputation as a moderate nationwide and in Fairfield County. Himes, who worked on Wall Street prior, used and continues to use advertising, credit claiming, and constituent service to be elected and to continually be reelected. Himes made Shays out to be another George Bush and sent out mailers that placed Shays and George Bush in pictures together, to appeal to the Democrats in the area. Himes also took advantage of Barack Obama’s popularity in the area, by sending out mailers with a picture of the two together, and later released joint lawn