ARI BERMAN: To put redistricting in perspective, Alex, after the 2010 census, new lines were drawn for 2012 that will last for the next decade. Republicans control the process in 20 states; Democrats only control the process in seven states; the rest are home to independent redistricting commissions or to divided government. Republicans have a big advantage down South, where they control virtually everything, which is a very big change from years past. Democrats basically controlled state governments in the South from Reconstruction until 2010.
And what Republicans are doing with redistricting now, following the 2010 election, is they’re trying to draw as many Democrats as possible into as few heavily-minority districts as possible to maximize Republican turnout elsewhere and basically turn the Republican Party into the quote-unquote "white party" and the Democratic Party into the quote-unquote "black party," and ensure that there are Republican majorities in all of the South, including in crucial swing states, like North Carolina, for the next decade.