When politicians from both parties think about elections, they often don’t think of voters as people. Voters can be divided into groups candidates want to appeal to or numbers in a poll, but too many political actors don’t view voters as human beings.
One of the elements that was ignored in the 2026 gerrymandering arms race, Particularly in hastily redrawn maps in already heavily cherry-picked red states, is that these “numbers” that are moved from district to district are human beings voting in elections, and human behavior combined with math can create unintended consequences.
For example, Texas Republicans thought they would create five new Republican seats with their gerrymander, but, according to election analysts, the reality is that they are more likely to win just 2-3 due to the return of Hispanic voters in these newly carved districts to Democrats.
Human beings don’t always live up to the expectations of the politicians who construct these maps, something Southern states rushing to eliminate majority-minority districts after the Supreme Court’s recent decision gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act need to keep in mind.
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), who faces the possibility of his district being wiped out in South Carolina, was on CNN’s State of the Union, where he issued a warning to Republicans.