Democratic West Virginia senator calls the Inflation Reduction Act, hailed as ‘biggest step on climate crisis’, a ‘radical agenda’

Democratic West Virginia senator calls the Inflation Reduction Act, hailed as ‘biggest step on climate crisis’, a ‘radical agenda’

  • wrath-sedan@kbin.social
    22·
    1 year ago

    You can’t gerrymander a statewide race like senator or governor, because everyone in the state gets to vote, there’s no districts to draw.

    At a national level (as in its three house reps) it’s so red that no matter how you draw it they’re all going to be red.

    At the state level, they have 100 house districts and 34 for the senate drawn by the Republican legislature that are certainly gerrymandered (couldn’t find much about the specifics though except this.)

      • wrath-sedan@kbin.social
        12·
        1 year ago

        I agree the gerrymandering of state districts can definitely influence the outcome of statewide races, but they cannot directly gerrymander the senate race because the only “district” is the state itself which cannot be redrawn.

        So looking at the original question, are they gerrymandering the senate seat? No, they can’t. Are they unfairly influencing outcomes of the race through other means? Probably. Will it make a difference in terms of WV voting for a dem that’s not Manchin (ie is it “real”)? Probably no because the only thing keeping a (more or less) Dem senator in a state that went 70% for Trump is incumbency and his special relationship to the coal industry.

          • wrath-sedan@kbin.social
            11·
            1 year ago

            Haha it’s ok. I’m not saying that gerrymandering isn’t a problem or that it’s not happening literally all the time as much as possible.

            All I mean is that you can’t gerrymander a federal senate seat. You can gerrymander the state legislature districts that control many of the aspects of voting for that statewide seat, but you cannot redraw (ie gerrymander) Joe Manchin’s senate seat without some minor civil wars with WV’s neighbor states.

              • wrath-sedan@kbin.social
                1·
                1 year ago

                To me it’s just about the definition of the word. It would be incorrect to say, “The WV legislature gerrymandered Joe Manchin’s senate seat.” Because gerrymandering means redrawing districts. You can totally say “The gerrymandered WV legislature passed laws that make it harder for Joe Manchin to be elected.” While gerrymandering affects the outcome, what they’re doing to Joe Manchin’s district is not gerrymandering.