The Big Consequences Of Small Changes To Congressional Maps

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2021

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Congressional districts are redrawn every ten years by state legislatures. In theory it is so populations are accurately represented when voting, but partisan gerrymandering means when you look at the map you'll probably see some really wonky shapes. We look at two states, Texas and Georgia, where redistricting will have major consequences for politicians and policy.

This episode: White House correspondent Scott Detrow, national political correspondent Mara Liasson, Georgia Public Broadcasting's Stephen Fowler, and KERA's Bret Jasper.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Brandon in San Francisco, California,
0:03.6	where I am currently getting ready for my weekly co-ed kickball game.
0:08.3	This podcast was recorded at...
0:10.6	It is 254 Eastern on Wednesday, December 1st.
0:13.9	Things may have changed by the time you hear it,
0:16.2	but I won't no doubt be embarrassing myself in front of random San Francisco's,
0:20.4	as I have no athletic bones in my body. Enjoy the show.
0:28.0	Buddy, listen, Stan PR.
0:29.6	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics podcast. I'm Scott Detro. I cover the White House.
0:34.0	And I'm Mara Liason, National Political Correspondent.
0:36.9	If you are into maps, today's episode is for you.
0:40.0	States across the country have released their redistricted congressional and statehouse maps,
0:45.9	following the 2020 census data.
0:48.4	Some of them have some pretty wonky shapes, and that has really big consequences for the next decade
0:54.7	of politics, maybe more than that.
0:56.5	Mara, write off the bat for people who do not closely follow this,
1:01.0	who do not like maps, who do not follow 50 states,
1:03.7	statehouses at once. Can you explain what we're talking about and why it's such a big deal?
1:08.5	Right. Well, because the United States is not a parliamentary democracy,
1:12.0	we don't award congressional seats or state legislative seats by percentages.
1:19.8	In other words, if one party gets 68% of the vote in Wisconsin,
1:23.8	that doesn't mean that's 68% of the members of the state legislature go to that party.
	...

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