Redistricting Efforts Have Placed 1 In 10 Americans In New Districts

SEO: Redistricting, midterms, Missouri redistricting, Louisiana redistricting 

Over the last year, state legislatures in both Red and Blue states engaged in a redistricting battle ahead of this fall’s midterms. When reporting these stories, we often focus on the electoral consequences of the new maps, but I’ll be honest, I never really considered the scale of these redistricting efforts beyond the House seats they impact. A new report found that one in 10 Americans now live in new districts, despite only 10 states engaging in redistricting. 

According to AP, a report from Protect Democracy revealed that 34.8 million people are in different districts than they were in the 2024 election. The report also revealed that a fifth of Americans now live in a district where more than a fourth of the voters are new to the district. 

So why does this matter? Well, for quite a few reasons, dear reader. First, these redistricting efforts have already affected many voters, even though they’ve happened in relatively few states. 

“If this trend continues, it really brings into question whether or not elected officials are really representing their constituents anymore, or if the voters are being randomly picked by mapmakers to squeeze out partisan advantage,” Ben Raderstorf, a policy advocate at Protect Democracy and one of the paper’s co-authors, told AP.

We’ve also seen how these redistricting efforts can lead to pronounced voter confusion. The Louisiana state legislature underwent a redistricting effort while early voting for the primaries was already underway, which resulted in 40,000 votes being tossed out. 

Missouri’s redistricting effort has placed it in unprecedented territory. While Missouri’s primaries were conducted with a newly drawn map that gave Republicans an edge, the Supreme Court ruled it must conduct the midterm elections with the previous map. Missouri is now one of the only states to conduct a midterm election with a different map than the primary election. 

The report expresses concern that states risk entering a “doom loop,” where state legislatures keep redistricting to avoid ceding ground to opponents. This will especially impact Black voters, as the Supreme Court’s decision to gut the Voting Rights Act has opened the door for state legislatures to engage in racial gerrymanders. We’ve already seen states like Tennessee eliminate their lone, majority-Black voting district. 

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp cited the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this summer when he tried to implement a redistricting effort focused on the 2028 election. While Kemp’s effort failed, if the midterms don’t go well for Republicans, I have to imagine more Red states will consider redistricting efforts ahead of the 2028 election. 

Protect Democracy’s report offers several solutions to defuse the ongoing redistricting battle. The report suggests Democrats and Republicans reach a truce and agree to implement nonpartisan redistricting efforts, create independent redistricting committees, or move toward proportional representation. 

“This is only going to get worse until somebody stops it,” Raderstorf said. “The logic of gerrymandering points inevitably towards maximalist partisan advantage on both sides. There is no off-ramp other than reform. It is the only way to break the cycle.”

SEE ALSO:

Virginia Supreme Court Set To Rule On Redistricting Effort

Supreme Court Officially Reinstates Texas’ Congressional Map