Does gerrymandering affect the House of Representatives?

Answer 1

Gerrymandering is the redrawing of Congressional Districts to favor one opponent, which results in a win even if the opponent received less votes than the other. This is because the Congressional Districts are redrawn in a way where one district will crush another because it will contain the majority of the liberals in the state, for example, and hardly any conservatives. Then, the rest of the districts will be won by the conservative because there are hardly any liberals left. Even though the liberal received more votes than the consverative, the consvertive won. I hope this example helps you understand how gerrymandering affects who gets into Congress.

AnswerFirst of all, it doesn't matter how the districts are drawn. The person who gets the most votes in a district wins the election for that district. Second, the previous poster tried to imply that it was the conservatives who are guilty of gerrymandering. But this is not the case. It is individual incumbent US representatives that are guilty of manipulating (through their contacts in State governments) the process of re-drawing district boundaries. They do this, not to help their party, but to ensure their own re-election. But, to the extent that members of one party do this more than the other party, it is the Democrats who are much more guilty of gerrymandering than Republicans.

Sometimes, this is done not for the benefit of any one particular candidate, but for the purpose of ensuring that SOME candidate of a particular RACE wins the election. For example, in my home state of Louisiana, there is one district that includes mostly black areas of several cities, from Shreveport in the norwest corner, all the way down nearly to New Orleans in the southeast corner. For much of its length, the boundaries of this district are defined by the two shoulders of a highway, to make the district "contiguous" while avoiding the accidental inclusion of white voters that might live right next to the highway. It is no surprise that a black candidate always wins this district. 99% of the voters there are black. Of course, the actual result is harmful to the Democratic party, because it concentrates the Democratic voters of a state in one district, leaving far fewer than average in the other districts, thus ensuring Republican victories in most other districts. But the Democrats have only themselves to blame for this outcome. They are, after all, the ones that made it this way.

Answer 2

Gerrymandering (the redrawing of voting districts to give one party an advantage over another) does not affect U.S Senate elections. Senators are elected by the entire state, and state lines are not changed by electoral redistricting.

Only elected officials who have certain district areas (congressional, for example, or a state senate or house district) can be affected by gerrymandering.

Answer 3

In the US Senate, no, since you can't change a State border.

In State Senates, yes.

Answer 4

effectively sets up a "strong hold" for a particular party,usually the party in power