In a presidential contest cycle, Senate races don’t get the same kind of attention when there’s still a year to go until Election Day. But the start of the second fundraising quarter earlier this month brought a host of new candidate names – some declared and some still biding their time – that will...
I can attest to the seat for Ohio. Gerrymandering and Trumpism have turned this state red, when by most accounts it should have more variety. After seeing friggin J.D. Vance somehow getting elected albeit offering nothing other than support for Trump, then I can't see anyone blue winning the Senate seat until redistricting is finalized and fairer.
Gerrymandering really shouldn't impact state-wide races, mathematically, but it sure feels like it breeds a combination of complacency and defeatism that overcomes the math.
Gerrymandering does affect the smaller races that choose the people that make the election rules. These rules then effect how easy it is for those who can’t afford the time off work to queue for hours in their populated city, vs. the rancher who can go to his polling place when he needs and there will be no queue.
People in the "minority" party districts get complacent that their district will be safe so there's lower turnout (Harris County in Tx, 3rd largest county in the country, heavily Democratic, had under 50% turnout in the 2020 elections). People in "majority" party districts feel like there's no hope they'll be represented, so they give up and don't vote.