The Gerrymandering Wars

Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic

Politics, Society & Culture, News

4.3 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There is an ongoing battle for House seats. And it’s playing out not so much in elections but in congressional maps. The Atlantic staff writers Russell Berman, who’s been covering the redistricting wars for the past several months, and Vann R. Newkirk II, who’s long followed the Voting Rights Act (and now its demise), explain how this new era of tit-for-tat gerrymandering is different than ever before. --- Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	AI, AI, AI, AI, AI, AI, AI, you got it.
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0:09.0	so you can solve the business problems that matter most.
0:12.0	PWC.
0:18.0	I hate thinking of politics as sport, but I'm going to do it here for a minute.
0:26.7	The Super Bowl in this analogy is the midterms, coming up in November.
0:31.4	The game is redistricting, redrawing the boundaries to give your team the advantage.
0:37.7	A couple of months back, team Democrat is riding high.
0:41.5	Gas prices are climbing.
0:43.1	The Iran war is unpopular,
0:45.2	and President Trump's approval rating is dipping below 40%.
0:48.4	The president's approval rating has marginally slipped
0:52.1	since the U.S. carried out strikes on Iran late last month.
0:55.6	There's really not much doubt in anyone's mind that the Democrats are going to win the Super Bowl,
1:00.5	i.e. take back the House. And then a surprise twist.
1:05.2	We will hear argument first this morning in case 24109, Louisiana versus Calais.
1:10.6	The Supreme Court, should we think of them as the ref, the league commissioner, In case 24109, Louisiana versus Calais and the...
1:10.9	The Supreme Court, should we think of them as the ref, the lead commissioner?
1:15.4	I don't know.
1:16.0	Anyway, the court gives the Republican team a late-season advantage.
1:21.5	The U.S. Supreme Court today struck down one of Louisiana's majority black congressional districts, a decision that
1:28.7	weakens key protections under the Voting Rights Act.
	...

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