As the current representative of the 9th district of Tennessee, Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen has emerged as a tactful candidate with goals in mind to help better the lives of his constituents through his representative style and his home-style. Theory I: Redistricting, Gerrymandering, and Candidate Emergence A congressional district is an electoral division of a state, electing and entitled to send one member to the United State House of Representatives. Districting is the initial set district, whereas redistricting is the process of drawing district boundaries after the decennial census and new population changes. Redistricting is a political process that affects the fortunes of incumbent House members, state legislators, …show more content…
Since then, gerrymandering has been used to gain partisan advantage and to shape the political projections of politicians and racial and ethnic groups. The two most common gerrymandering techniques include packing and cracking, disappointingly both waste valuable votes in doing so. Packing has both an offensive and defensive strategy. Offensively, packing is to fill a district with many voters of one type to create a safe seat; typically used in partisan gerrymandering. Defensively, packing is to compress voters of one type into as few districts as possible to dilute their influence elsewhere. However, cracking is to spread as many voters of one type into as many districts as possible to dilute their influence; typically used in racial gerrymandering. Partisan and Racial gerrymandering are two common forms of gerrymandering. Partisan gerrymandering is the manipulation of districts to increase members of a specific party by drawing district lines on the basis of party identification. Racial gerrymandering is drawing district lines on the basis of race; possibly leading to a majority-minority district. After the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment granting former slaves the right to vote, many southern states implemented a variety of methods to prevent the adoption of the new law. The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 was the solution to the unfair methods implemented. It removed the
When looking how effectively a country represents its citizens, it is important to take into account the manner in which they are represented. The two main types of representation are descriptive and agency representation. Descriptive representation is the concept that those who represent the American people should not only have the same political interest, but should also mirror the demographic makeup of the people. Agency representation, which is what the United States congress looks like, is when the representation does not reflect the demographic, but they speak for their constituents’ interests in congress. The constituents are able to hold the representatives accountable and can choose not to elect them in the next term, so the representatives
The Fifteenth Amendment gave black males over the age of 21 the right to vote. However, southern states set up poll taxes and literacy test in order to keep most blacks from voting. In order to keep the white votes they set up the grandfather clause, which allowed the seventy-five percent of the poor illiterate white people to still vote if they were the son or grandson of someone who was eligible to vote before 1867.
Say there is a state with a population of fifty, now three fifths of that state are democratic and the other two fifths are republican, now we need to separate this state into five congressional districts. The best way to do this would be so there are two republican representatives and three democratic. However with gerrymandering democrats can draw districts that are unfair and they get all five representatives, but if republicans draw the districts they can draw them were there are three republican representatives and only two democratic representatives. This process is seen through many states. In North Carolina forty-four percent of voters voted democratic, however thanks to a creative congressional map, seventy- seven percent of representatives were republican. The twelfth district in North Carolina is considered the most gerrymandered district in the country, and is home to two more of the top ten gerrymandered districts. Republicans rule six of the most Gerrymandered states, including North Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Alabama. The other four
Gerrymandering is the process of altering electoral districts to favor a political party over the other by receiving more votes in that districts based on the population demographics and party affiliation. Gerrymandering was founded when Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts had enacted a bill that would allow the state to the redistricted in a way that would favor the party he represented, which was the Democratic-Republican Party, over the Federalists. When the redistricting plan was brought to the press, the term was created using Governor Gerry's name and salamander after one district in Boston appeared to look like a salamander.
The term gerrymandering refers to the practice of altering voting districts in order to achieve electoral results favorable to one person or party, usually the incumbent politician or party creating the new voting regions.1 This term, dating back to 1812, is an established method for incumbent politicians to improve their heresthetical “defense,” by manipulating the dimensions of the political landscape.2 This tactic is extremely common in the United States and a prime example of politicians acting as manipulators. This essay will argue that politicians are manipulators, as evidenced by the gerrymandering of voting districts to improve odds of maintaining power, and opposition attempts to counteract this electoral
2. Some important qualities for a successful member of congress to have are to respect for each other and work together. That’s what Tip O’Neill says that’s what congress is all about.
“The Republicans are going to have their hand on the computer mouse, and when you have your hand on the computer mouse, you can change a district from a D to an R.” - The New York Times Dec 24,2010. Redistricting plays a role in electing representatives and state legislators. There is this thing called gerrymandering that allows the drawing of the new districts to be in their favor.
The Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 abolished slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 granted African Americans citizenship and equal protection under the law, and the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870 granted African Americans the right to vote. These amendments were passed in an effort to combat racism and reshape public perception of blacks, however, these laws were hard to enforce and Southern states developed their own laws like the Black Codes to control the newly freed slaves. Jim Crow-era laws in the South like the poll tax and literacy tests prevented many blacks in the South from voting. Anyone who tried to break Southern traditions was subject to violence and intimidation from the Ku Klux Klan.
Democracy is conceptualized as a “will of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Intrinsically, all variants of democratic representation must take into consideration the will of the majority of the electorate. In the democratic approach, the representative carries the will of their district to Congress and ensures it is sufficiently expressed. Further, a delegate representative is better placed to be in constant communication with the grassroots and understand their district issues which would also help with the articulation of such matters in the House. Implicitly, delegate representatives also have better chances of re-election as they will often refrain from being in contravention of their district’s
When gerrymandering occurs, a political party draws the boundaries of an electoral district in a way that helps their party win elections over the other parties. For example, if a Republican controls a state, and it appears like the party will lose a seat in the future, the
Congressional elections occur every two years and it is when members if the House of Representatives and Senate are elected. An incumbent is when a congressman is up for re-election but is currently still holding office. We have long known that US incumbents enjoy profound electoral advantages in congressional elections. However contrary to speculation some evidence shows that they are on an equal playing field with contesters who are not incumbents.
Congress has many functions to keep it working and functioning. They do many things to make laws, make sure they’re fair, and much more. There are also many committees with important jobs. There are many things that influence congressional elections such as reapportionment, redistricting, much more. There are many people who make up the House and Senate and they have many important jobs to keep things running smoothly.
In 1867, Congress passed a new Reconstruction Act, that threw out the state governments of states that refused to ratify the 14th amendment. The 15th amendment was ratified in 1870, providing a constitutional guarantee of voting rights for African American males.
Gerrymandering is a form of boundary redistricting, in which the boundaries of an electoral district or constituency are modified for electoral purposes, often producing a contorted or unusual shape. The resulting district is known as a Gerrymander. Gerrymandering is used as a potential way to achieve desired electoral results for a particular party, or may be used to
The resulting districts are normally referred to as gerrymanders and they are composed of pro-incumbents and partisans. Partisan gerrymandering involves the redrawing of political lines in order to favor a given political party. Incumbent gerrymandering involves the redrawing of boundaries in a bipartisan manner that is aimed at benefiting the incumbents on both sides of the aisle (Snider 2012).