PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: …since the GOP not only flipped the House in 2010 but totally controlled 21 state governments, including Pennsylvania’s, it allowed the party to master post-census congressional redistricting around the country. On Nov. 6, Democrats won the popular vote by 500,000 votes nationally but took just 201 of the 435 U.S. House seats. In Pennsylvania, Republicans took hold of 13 of 18 congressional seats while being outpaced by 75,000 total votes. Mr. Obama won 53 percent of the state’s vote, but Democratic candidates won 28 percent of the seats.
“Pennsylvania is arguably the most distorted map in the country in terms of comparing the vote share and the seats won,” said Nicholas Goedert, a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis who focuses on redistricting issues.
The results led Democrats such as state Sen. Daylin Leach of Montgomery County to complain that the state’s districts were excessively manipulated by the GOP and the ability to gerrymander should be replaced next decade with nonpartisan methods of redrawing district lines… (more)
