New Hampshire’s Republican Party has declined a plan to redistrict after the state’s GOP governor indicated no support for the idea.
The decision comes as many states are redistricting in a battle to boost seats in the U.S. House.
There are numerous redistricting efforts going on around the nation right now, and the GOP has made serious gains.
States like Texas and North Carolina are adding more seats to Congress with the push.
These redistricting campaigns, in combination with an upcoming landmark Supreme Court decision, could easily hand the GOP control of the House of Representatives for decades.
However, those victories won’t extend to New Hampshire as State Senator Dan Innis has dropped his plan to push redistricting after Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte refused to endorse the idea.
While this is a setback for President Donald Trump’s administration, it’s less consequential considering the massive gains that the GOP has already made.
New redistricting efforts have been extremely successful in Texas and North Carolina, with many Democrat seats eliminated.
The moves are ensuring that the days of the narrow GOP majority in the House are over.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court is considering a case that could knock down a section of the Voting Rights Act that essentially required racial quotas in creating districts.
The race-based requirements have long favored Democrats.
If the Supreme Court strikes that requirement down, it will allow GOP states to eliminate dozens of Democrat seats that exist entirely because of the Voting Rights Act’s racial district quota rules.
That one provision has allowed Democrats to hold onto seats in otherwise entirely red states like Alabama and Mississippi.
Without the Voting Rights Act’s current rules, there will no longer be districts drawn on racial lines, and that will be devastating for Democrats.
However, in New Hampshire, Governor Ayotte claimed that since New Hampshire is in the middle of a current redistricting cycle, it made no sense to redistrict again.
Ayotte explained, “When I talk to people in New Hampshire … it’s not on the top of their priority list.
“They want us to continue to work in the legislature on housing issues, child care, keeping the state the safest in the nation, and just making sure that we have the best quality education for our children.”
This is a fairly good argument against redistricting, considering the political implications.
Should New Hampshire’s GOP party choose to push for redistricting, it will be a months-long political battle with Democrats, and nothing else will get done.
In more GOP-dominated states, redistricting battles are less costly.
But the Granite State is no GOP stronghold, and some level of cooperation with Democrats is needed to get business done.
However, the implications of this decision will be worth keeping an eye on as the GOP tallies up its gains in the House from other states.
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