Some Thoughts on Gerrymandering Wars
A little self-promotion.
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, May 4, 2026
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2 comments
I have a piece up at Liberal Currents, Lessons from the Redistricting Wars, for anyone who might be interested.
Here are the basic lessons:
There are three key lessons I hope are learned here: lines are more important than people in our system, making changes to the electoral system is possible, and when both sides are threatened, there is hope for more positive change.
Click on through above to read more!
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Excellent points, thank you for the article.
While the current battle is for the House, we have a similar – arguably worse – “district” problem in the Senate, a body with lots of power and inherently rural majorities built in to the system.
The “poking at the margins” solution might be to break up large, blue states like California so that we can have 8 or 10 senators instead of just 2 representing 12% of America, but no serious politician will gain ground on that idea.
The best solution would be to create permanent and ongoing accountability. The threat of “no confidence” style votes/dissolving the government would do more to temper both the Executive and Legislative branches of government than anything else.
@Tony W: Thanks! And yes, the Senate presents a truly massive problem for real representation at the national level.
Alas, the kind of accountability of which you speak is impossible under presidentialism and fixed-term elections.