From New York Times, I'm Michael Obaro. This is the Daily.

Today, after years of partisan gerrymandering, America's congressional map has heavily favored

Republicans over Democrats. Until now, I spoke with my colleague Nate Cohen about why this

year's midterm elections could be the fairest in a generation.

It's Thursday, March 31st.

Nate, tell us about this reporting that you've been doing about the state of the United

States congressional map. I've been tracking a process called reapportionment. That's

where every 10 years, after the new census, the state's redraw their congressional maps

to ensure that every district has an equal number of people.

The census gives us a newer understanding of how many people are in every district.

Some states get new districts as a result of gaining population and then other states

that has a slower population growth, or even lose people, will lose congressional districts.

Every one has to redraw their maps to account for the new data.

In recent decades, the Republicans have really done well on this process. They have controlled

the redistricting process in more states than Democrats, and they've used that power to

draw more Republican-leaning districts than Democrats.

Because this process is controlled by state legislatures.

The state legislatures have the responsibility to draw the maps under the Constitution.

There are some exceptions. There are states that have independent commissions, for instance,

but for the most part, it's under the control of the state governments.

In recent decades, the Republicans have used that power to help build a significant structural

advantage in the House of Representatives, one that gives them the ability to win the House

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