Friday, Day of the NewJohn Avlon, a CNN analyst, dedicated a “Reality Check”, to condemning Ohio’s Republican-backed redistricting plans. This strengthens the GOP in Ohio’s congressional delegation. Between this week’s edition, and the month-long hyperventilation over Texas redistricting, John Avlon, liberal CNN analyst, couldn’t decide whether he supported or opposed gerrymandering to assure certain outcomes.
Avlon began Friday’s segment by declaring that “The rigged system of redistricting is the single biggest structural driver of polarization in our politics,” and then informed viewers that Oho Republicans are aiming to hold 13 out of 15 districts in the state after the new maps take effect in 2022. As he was recalling, Avlon recalled Ohio voter support to draw compact areas.
These maps represent an insult to democracy. They are designed to disenfranchise voters. But believe it or not, that’s not the worst of it. Because in 2018, just three years ago, a stunning 75 percent of Ohio voters backed an amendment to their state constitution ensuring that redistricting would be bipartisan and not favor any one political party. It also promised that congressional maps be drawn in such a way as to keep counties and towns whole, imposing geographic common sense on the absurd gerrymanders that divide communities to maximize partisan power.
But, about a month ago, Avlon reacted to the newly drawn Texas districts by misleadingly complaining that the Hispanic majority 35th district and black-concentrated 30th districts were having their minority percentages trimmed by just a few percentage points so that, in the 35th, eligible voters would no longer be majority Hispanic, and, in the 30th, eligible voters would no longer be majority black.
Avlon is presumably in favor of racial and ethnic gerrymandering. It often results in oddly-shaped districts, with a minimum percentage of districts that are minority-majority. But she opposes gerrymandering. And actual race-based gerrymandering to guarantee such majorities has proven so challenging in the past that, in the 1990s, racially packed districts in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia (all states then controlled by Democrats) were ruled illegal and ordered redrawn by federal court order.
According to the 2022 edition, Almanac on American Politics, only 19 of the 56 current members of Congress who are black are representing districts where more than 50 percent of residents are also black.
After accusing the Republicans of obstructing the work and pushing it back into their hands, he continued to complain:
They cracked and packed minority communities, dividing counties and cities for their own partisan advantage. For example, the county that is home to Cincinnati, which voted for Biden by a 16-point margin, will be divided into three congressional districts, and black voters offset by white Republicans. And that’s why many are saying that this map might not only violate the Ohio constitution, but the U.S. Voting Rights Act.
Avlon did not mention that there are currently two districts represented by black members of Congress in Ohio, both of whom will have safe seats, which comes to two out of 17 (or 11.8 percent) of the seats in a state where blacks make up 12.5 percent of Ohio’s population.
Similarly, last month, Avlon did not mention that there are currently five congressional districts in Texas with black representation, and there will likely continue to be five after the 2022 elections. That would be 13.2 percent of the 38 seats in a state that is 12.2 percent black.
CNN personality Adam Kinzinger, an anti-Trump Republican, was not interested in reporting on the Democrats’ aggressive gerrymandering of Illinois.
Avlon ended his melodramatically with a quote from an Ohio Democratic official.
CNN’s latest misinformation episode Day of the NewTempurpedic sponsored the sponsorship. You can find their contact information here.
These transcripts are available:
CNN’sDay of the New
November 19, 2021
Eastern: 7:46 AM
The rigged system of redistricting is the single biggest structural driver of polarization in our politics. And the great state of Ohio just showed us how professional partisans’ cynical disregard for the will of the people undermines representative democracy. You see, the Republican controlled legislature just passed an absurd partisan gerrymander designed to give them control of as many as 13 congressional seats, and Democrats just two. This is 87 percent in a congressional delegation from a state that Trump only won 53 percent of his vote.
(…)
These maps represent an insult to democracy. They are designed to disenfranchise voters. But believe it or not, that’s not the worst of it. Because in 2018, just three years ago, a stunning 75 percent of Ohio voters backed an amendment to their state constitution ensuring that redistricting would be bipartisan and not favor any one political party. It also promised that congressional maps be drawn in such a way as to keep counties and towns whole, imposing geographic common sense on the absurd gerrymanders that divide communities to maximize partisan power.
(…)
Well, Ohio Republicans just decided to disregard the state constitution and the will of the voters. The seven-member redistricting commission had a month to work out a fair map, but Republican members refused to participate, and so the commission couldn’t convene. The power to draw the lines fell back to the Republican-controlled state assembly, who proceeded to do exactly what the constitutional amendment forbids.
They cracked and packed minority communities, dividing counties and cities for their own partisan advantage. For example, the county that is home to Cincinnati, which voted for Biden by a 16-point margin, will be divided into three congressional districts, and black voters offset by white Republicans. And that’s why many are saying that this map might not only violate the Ohio constitution, but the U.S. Voting Rights Act.
(…)
While this partisan map is clearly in violation of the state constitution, what it really does is show that Republicans only care about controlling Congress in the upcoming midterms. In their pursuit of power, they will not be bound by state constitutions or laws.
And what happens in Ohio doesn’t stay in Ohio. This is just one example of the rigged redistricting that’s happening in state houses across the country, right now, trying to predetermine the midterm elections before a single vote is cast. It’s also an example of why federal election reform is so needed because even statewide reforms, backed by the vast majority of voters, can be discarded by the party in power.
David Pepper, the ex-chair of the Ohio Democratic Party wrote in his book. Laboratories of Autocracy, “We are witnessing a coordinated nationwide weaponization of state houses to undermine American democracy itself.” Make no mistake, this is happening right now. They are hoping that you will not notice this until it is too late.
(…)
October 21st, 2021
JOHN AVLON: It increases the number of Republican-dominated districts from 22 to 25, while reducing the number of districts in which Hispanics make up a majority of the electorate, from eight to seven. This is despite Hispanics being nearly equal to non-Hispanic whites in Texas.
But that’s not the end. In fact, they reduced the number of areas where African-Americans are a majority from 1 to 0. They made the districts more competitive and gave the party primaries more power.
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