(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) The Republican State Leadership Committee, which strives to secure and hold state legislatures, released a video on that reveals former Attorney General Eric Holder and former President Barack Obama‘s hypocrisy regarding gerrymandering.
The video, titled “Hypocrisy,” said that it is “time to call out liberal gerrymandering” in states like Oregon, Illinois, and Maryland.
Holder and Obama have blasted Republican-backed gerrymandering in states like Ohio, which indeed has some misshapen congressional districts, but they do not apply the same standard to Democrat-dominated states, like Maryland and New Mexico.
“Gerrymandering is cheating,” Holder said in the video, and Obama added, “Regardless of our party affiliations, it’s not good for our democracy.”
Yet, Holder gave “no comment” to The Hill in a recent article titled, “Democrats decry gerrymandering — unless they control the maps.”
“With voters rejecting Washington’s failures, gerrymandering is the only hope left for the radical liberal agenda,” the RSLC’s video said. “In order to gain power, Democrats say one thing and do another. The word is hypocrisy.”
The state legislatures in Maryland, New Mexico, and Oregon have drawn proposed congressional districts that could extinguish their last-remaining Republican representatives.
Each of these states has one elected Republican representative, but the new maps, drawn with sprawling and squiggly lines, may let Maryland elect an 8-0 Democrat congressional delegation, New Mexico a 3-0, and Oregon a 5-0.
Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed the state legislature’s congressional map, but Democrats can easily override the veto.
Maryland’s Democrat leaders in the state House and Senate, like Holder, refused to comment on their proposed congressional map.
Doug Spencer, a University of Colorado law professor who manages the All About Redistricting website, said Democrats cannot lay all the blame on Republicans for partisan gerrymandering.
“Despite all the rhetoric, they have shown themselves to be equally thirsty for power,” he said.
Drawing favorable congressional maps is a partisan goal for both parties.
“As Democrats, they feel obligated or committed to doing their part to provide Democratic seats at the national level,” Spencer said. “The Democrats feel emboldened to try to get the most as they can, just as Republicans have.”
