After discussing how Republicans were going to struggle with Biden's Supreme Court nominee and Donald Trump's calls to pardon people charged in the January 6 Capitol riot, the PBS NewsHour took a brief detour for pundit Amy Walter to call out New York's Democrats for their blatant gerrymandering of congressional districts.
Walter and NPR's Asma Khalid -- subbing in for regular panelist Tamara Keith, who was anchoring All Things Considered -- touted how successful Biden has been with his judicial nominees. Walter warned "if Republicans make this [SCOTUS confirmation] a contentious, drawn-out process, it could end up backfiring, in that it motivates what are now currently not as motivated Democratic voters." But at least they turned it around for the asterisk at the end:
JUDY WOODRUFF: Just quickly to both of you, Amy, redistricting. We have been talking a lot about Republican — Republican legislatures and commissions drawing districts to favor them, but, in New York state, we're now seeing a new map that heavily favors Democrats.
AMY WALTER: That's right. And, Judy, this is a state that, in 2014, voters put about — approved a ballot measure that took redistricting out of the hands of politicians, put it in the hands of a bipartisan commission. In surprise to no one, that bipartisan commission broke down, was polarized.
So it went back to the legislature, which is dominated by Democrats. Democrats gerrymandered a very favorable map for themselves, which would basically cut the Republican delegation in half from eight to four. Democrats would pick up or have seats that are more Democratic, three more seats that are heavily Democratic.
That is a substantial, substantial redistricting gerrymander there in New York. It doesn't break the letter of the law, but it certainly calls into question the spirit of what was supposed to be government reform and taking it out of the hands of a partisan process.
Democrats are especially eager to remove freshman Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the only Republican in the New York City delegation.
One energetically refashioned gerrymander is a gift for Jerry Nadler (so Nick Fondacaro joked it was "Jerrynadlering"):
Jerrymandering https://t.co/I8RDEz1eo8
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) January 31, 2022
