The term “gerrymander,” which has come to mean manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts in order to guarantee the supremacy of one political party or another, is named after Elbridge Gerry (pronounced with a “hard G” as in “game” or “gun.”
Elbridge Gerry was–believe it or not–an American Founding Father, and the fifth Vice-President of the United States, serving under President James Madison. He died of a heart attack, a year after taking office, in November 1814.
The term “gerrymander” is what Lewis Carroll deemed a “portmanteaux” word, combining elements of two other words into a new one. In this case, Gerry’s name was combined with part of the word “salamander” to describe a newly created Congressional district in Massachusetts. Gerry, who personally disapproved of the underlying shenanigans, signed the bill in March of 1812, creating what many at the time said was a district bounded in the shape of a salamander, which had no purpose other than political gain for a particular party.
A recent post on Ricochet highlighted the important graphic below, taken from a post on “X,” which shows the difference between what had largely been the recognized boundaries of Illinois Congressional Districts (shown in 1970) with the boundaries of Illinois Congressional Districts today (2025):
Hopefully the differences between the largely dull and rather square boundaries from fifty years ago are–when compared to the winding and wildly partisan perimeters of today, quite obvious. (If, for some reason they are not, just have a look at the new District 13, and its resulting effect on District 15. Message me with questions, if you have some.)
Still, I don’t think the original Ricochet post quite brought it home. I did a bit of research, that which is readily available from reputable sources online, comparing the results within a few years of the first graphic to the results within a year or so of the second graphic. Here is what I found:
In 1974, about 2.8 million votes were cast in the Illinois Congressional election. The Democrat party percentage of those votes was 57% . So, 43% of the votes cast in the House elections in Illinois went to Republicans. That year, the Democrat vs. Republican allocation of Congressional seats was 13-11. A 54% advantage, in House seats, to the Democrats. IOW, not all that far removed from “proportional representation” as it might have applied at the time.
In 2024, about 5.3 million votes were cast in the Illinois Congressional election. The Democrat party percentage of those votes was 57%. So, 43% of the votes cast in the House elections in Illinois went to Republicans. (I’ve ignored the third party votes in both cases because they are rather insignificant.)
But, because of the “redistricting” (AKA “gerrymandering”) by the Democrats in the meantime, and in spite of the fact that the ratio of Republican to Democrat voters in the state has remained pretty consistent over the past 50 years, in 2024 only 17% of the elected Congressional representatives (3 vs 14) were Republicans.
And so today we have the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts threatening to redraw district boundaries to counter what’s currently happening in Texas. FTR, Massachusetts (a Commonwealth in which 36% of the population voted for Donald Trump for President in 2024) currently has no Republican representation among the Commonwealth’s nine Congressional delegates.
Gerrymandering, much?
California? Same, same, and not much different. 38% of the population voted for the Trump/Vance ticket in 2024. Still, out of California’s 52 congressional seats, only nine (17%) are held by Republicans.
If anything were to make a nonsense (were the mainstream media actually paying attention) to the left-wing shrieking about the deficiencies and misrepresentations of the Electoral College, this would be it.
At this point, the Electoral College is about the only thing–at the national level– fit to redress the idiocy at the local level–of the manipulation of the vote.
At the same time, I understand why the Left is so angry about the Senatorial and the Electoral College vote system. That which gives state-wide and equal enfranchisement to all citizens regardless of party, so that the votes of the California senatorial delegation (consisting of just two) can be cancelled by the votes of the two Senators from Alabama must be infuriating beyond belief.
And when the vote–in a national election–from a particular state, even one such as my own Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which currently has one Republican and one Democrat Senator, still kicks The Donald up to a second White House term, I don’t quite know what to do except chuckle at the resulting meltdown.
And so I do. After all, things on this side of The Pond could be worse. All I have to do is look to the “King over the water” to see it.
Highlanders, beware!
