Dummymandering
Dummymandering in the United States is a term describing a gerrymandering effort intended to favor a certain political party, but which backfires by benefiting another party instead.[1] It combines the words "dummy" and "gerrymandering". This typically occurs during a wave election for the party that was intended to be disfavored by the map, when districts are drawn with potentially competitive margins, or when maps are drawn without consideration for long term partisan shifts.[2]
Dummymandering is caused when map makers attempt to crack votes, such as splitting large population centers into multiple districts relative to the population. Using too few districts to properly split up a large population center can cause the partisan lean of a district to be competitive in certain political environments, where potentially more seats will go to the party that was aimed to be disadvantaged by the map.[3]
History
[edit]The term was first coined by political scientists Bernard Groffman and Thomas L. Brunell in 2005, in the book Redistricting in the New Millenium. In the chapter The Art of the Dummymander, the two studied many southern states in the 1990s, where Democratic controlled legislatures drew congressional and state legislative maps that would favor Democrats while also complying with the Voting Rights Act (VRA), but the maps spread Democratic voters out thinly, which let Republicans flip control of many state legislatures, including Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.[1][4]
During the 2026 United States Midterm Elections, mainstream media organizations and political scientists began to use the word in response to the 2025-2026 United States Redistricting efforts.[2] The term grew in popularity after Texas redrew their congressional maps to favor the Republican Party, but left some districts competitive during a projected Democratic wave year.[5]
Notable examples
[edit]The largest example of a dummymander was during the 1894 United States Elections, where the Democratic Party aggressively redrew congressional districts to favor the party after the 1890 United States Census. However, the Democratic Party failed to take account for the Panic of 1893, in which support for the party collapsed. The Democratic Party subsequently lost 120 seats to the Republican Party, and lost seven seats to the Populist Party.[6]
In 2001, Republicans in Pennsylvania drew congressional map that favored the party in a 12-7 majority, despite the state being competitive and voting to elect Al Gore in the 2020 Presidential election. However, many of the districts were drawn with potentially competitive margins. During the 2006 House of Representatives elections, the unpopularity of George Bush resulted in a large Democratic wave year, where Democrats in Pennsylvania were able to flip four seats resulting in a 11-8 majority.[7] Two years later, during the 2008 United States House of Representatives elections, Democrats flipped one more seat, bringing the partisan split to a 12-7 Democratic majority.[8]
In 2011, Republicans in Texas drew the Texas House of Representatives map to favor Republicans in 8 out of 14 seats in Dallas County after the 2010 United States Census. However, the Republicans in the state legislature failed to take into account population growth and demographic shifts, and during the 2018 Texas House of Representatives election, Democrats managed to flip five of the seats, bringing an even 7-7 split to a 12-2 Democratic majority. This was because when attempting to split the city of Dallas, a Democratic stronghold, with the more Republican suburbs, Republicans ended up diluting their own voter base instead.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 "Dummymander - Political Dictionary". politicaldictionary.com. 2026-05-11. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- 1 2 Graham, David A. (2026-02-23). "The Revenge of the Dummymander". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ↑ Brunell, Thomas (13 February 2006). "Rethinking Redistricting: How Drawing Uncompetitive Districts Eliminates Gerrymanders, Enhances Representation, and Improves Attitudes toward Congress". PS: Political Science & Politics. 39 (1): 77–85 – via Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ Grofman, Bernard; Burnell, Thomas. Galderisi, Peter (ed.). "The Art of the Dummymander" (PDF). ISBN 9780739107188.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "States are redistricting to help one party but sometimes the move can backfire". AP News. 2025-10-16. Archived from the original on 2026-05-12. Retrieved 2026-09-26.
- ↑ "How Redistricting Turned a Setback Into a Bloodbath". POLITICO. 2025-11-10. Retrieved 2026-09-24.
- ↑ Vargas, Claudia (2020-01-08). "Republicans 'got greedy' in drawing Pennsylvania congressional maps, new documents say". Inquirer.com. Retrieved 2026-09-26.
- ↑ "Pennsylvania - Election Results 2008 - The New York Times". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2026-09-26.
- ↑ Cameron, Alexa Ura, Chris Essig, Darla (2018-11-07). "In Dallas County, Republican gerrymandering backfired in 2018". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 2026-09-26.
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