Why Florida/Texas and Virginia redistricting are different

[Teflon Don]

Much was made by the left about the redistricting of Virginia saying that what it is being done to "protect democracy" because of Texas and Virginia.

But, here is why it is different. Florida and Texas are very red states now, like Illinois. Deeply partisan states have always redistricted this way.

What Virginia was trying to do was very different. It was taking an essentially purple state and tried to turn it dark blue, by completely flipping its delegation even though it is an evenly divided state and Virginia already has a constitutionally approved method for districting

 

[zymurgy]

My issue is not that one party benefits. My issue is when the map looks like it was drawn by someone trying to launder the outcome through geography.


Long tentacles. Weird hooks. Districts that reach into a city just far enough to grab the “right” voters, then snake back out to neutralize everyone else. That is not representation. That is vote-engineering with a cartography hobby.


Virginia looks like it is drifting into that pattern. Illinois has already made an art form of it. Yes, Illinois is a blue state. Nobody serious denies that. But the map does not simply reflect a blue state. It carves out several areas that would obviously not be blue under any natural districting logic.


When the district looks like a salamander got into a knife fight with a Sharpie, people are allowed to notice.

 

[Grim Reaper]

Much was made by the left about the redistricting of Virginia saying that what it is being done to "protect democracy" because of Texas and Virginia.

But, here is why it is different. Florida and Texas are very red states now, like Illinois. Deeply partisan states have always redistricted this way.

What Virginia was trying to do was very different. It was taking an essentially purple state and tried to turn it dark blue, by completely flipping its delegation even though it is an evenly divided state and Virginia already has a constitutionally approved method for districting

You’re presenting this as if the situations are structurally identical, but they aren’t. The key distinction isn’t red state vs. blue state, it’s what the governing rules in each state actually are.

Florida and Texas use traditional partisan‑controlled redistricting. Virginia, by contrast, adopted a constitutionally mandated bipartisan redistricting commission in 2020. That’s not a partisan invention, it was approved by voters statewide.

So when people objected to Virginia’s process being overridden, the issue wasn’t protecting Democrats, it was protecting the rules Virginia voters themselves put in place.

If someone wants to argue that Virginia is purple and shouldn’t have maps that favor one side, that’s fine, but then the argument has to be about population distribution, map geometry, and the commission’s mandate, not a blanket claim that the state was being turned dark blue.

If the claim is that the maps completely flipped the delegation, then the burden is to show the actual district lines and the demographic data that support that conclusion. Without that, it’s just narrative.

I’m sticking to structure and evidence. If someone wants to make this about team colors instead of the rules on the books, that’s their choice, but it doesn’t make the comparison accurate.

 

[Jade Dragon]

I'm not taking Teflon off ignore, but will guess he's being a flaming hypocrite trying to pass off his brand of cheating as OK, but piss and moan that others dared to play the same game.

 

[Jade Dragon]

You’re presenting this as if the situations are structurally identical, but they aren’t. The key distinction isn’t red state vs. blue state, it’s what the governing rules in each state actually are.

Florida and Texas use traditional partisan‑controlled redistricting. Virginia, by contrast, adopted a constitutionally mandated bipartisan redistricting commission in 2020. That’s not a partisan invention, it was approved by voters statewide.

So when people objected to Virginia’s process being overridden, the issue wasn’t protecting Democrats, it was protecting the rules Virginia voters themselves put in place.

If someone wants to argue that Virginia is purple and shouldn’t have maps that favor one side, that’s fine, but then the argument has to be about population distribution, map geometry, and the commission’s mandate, not a blanket claim that the state was being turned dark blue.

If the claim is that the maps completely flipped the delegation, then the burden is to show the actual district lines and the demographic data that support that conclusion. Without that, it’s just narrative.

I’m sticking to structure and evidence. If someone wants to make this about team colors instead of the rules on the books, that’s their choice, but it doesn’t make the comparison accurate.

I'm guessing I was right about him being a flaming hypocrite.

 

[Walt]

But, here is why it is different. Florida and Texas are very red states now, like Illinois. Deeply partisan states have always redistricted this way.

What Virginia was trying to do was very different. It was taking an essentially purple state and tried to turn it dark blue, by completely flipping its delegation even though it is an evenly divided state and Virginia already has a constitutionally approved method for districting

Florida is definitely more purple than Virginia, so your claim has no meaning. Beyond that, mid-decade redistricting is almost unheard of, so not "always."