57°F
weather icon Mostly Clear

EDITORIAL: Democrats get their maps, but can they survive Biden?

Nevada Democrats jammed through new congressional and legislative maps this week, and the districts stand as a monument to their hypocritical mewling about gerrymandering. Lawsuits will be forthcoming, as even some hard-left progressive groups were upset with the result.

Legislative leaders didn’t have much to say about their shameless power grab, which is intended to eventually provide the Democratic Party with supermajorities in both legislative chambers, while securing three of the state’s four House seats for the next decade. Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro — who, as a Clark County prosecutor, serves illegally in Carson City in open defiance of the state constitution’s separation of powers clause — could muster only boilerplate pabulum about reflecting Nevada’s “diversity.”

For state Republicans, being relegated to the outback is the price they pay for losing elections. The 2010 redistricting process was a bit friendlier to the party thanks to the presence of GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval. Barring judicial intervention, they’ll need strong leadership and a clear message in order to put themselves in position to successfully retake state constitutional offices and regain relevance in the Legislature.

Finally, recall that the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 held that redistricting was a political issue and “federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between the two major political parties, with no plausible grant of authority in the Constitution and no legal standards to limit and direct their decisions.” In response, Jessica Post, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, told NPR: “The Supreme Court’s decision has made one thing clear: The only way we’ll end partisan gerrymandering is by voting Republicans out of power in state legislatures.” So much for that keen observation.

Democrats have spent years concocting new legal theories and developing advanced metrics to attack Republicans over redistricting. Three years ago in Wisconsin, they argued that new maps were unconstitutional because they didn’t reflect the relationship between statewide voter registration and legislative representation, creating an “efficiency gap.” Yet here they are in purple Nevada, enjoying just a 4.2-point advantage over Republicans in terms of registration numbers, devising districts intended to lock them into power for the next 10 years. You can bet that Ms. Cannizzaro and Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson won’t soon be talking about any “efficiency gap.”

A week is an eternity in politics, let alone 11 months. But with the Biden administration flailing aimlessly and storm clouds advancing on the party running Washington, Nevada Democrats may soon learn that, despite their efforts to rig the game, there’s only so much they can do to protect their cushy sinecures.

THE LATEST
EDITORIAL: More free stuff

Bernie Sanders wants to wave a magic wand and impose a 32-hour work week.