Election affects Congress district changes

Associated Press
Erie Times-News
November 8, 2010

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Republicans don't just control much of the electoral map. In some cases, they now have the power to redraw it.

Overwhelming victories in statehouses and governors' races across the country this week have placed the GOP in command of redrawing both congressional and legislative districts to conform with census results.

It's a grueling and politically charged process that typically gives the party in power an inherent advantage for a decade, allowing them to preserve strongholds or to put others in play.

Tim Storey, a redistricting expert at the National Conference of State Legislatures, estimates that Republicans will have unilateral control over the redrawing of 195 congressional districts. Democrats have just 45. The remainder are in states where either both parties have a chance to influence redistricting or where decisions will be made by independent commissions. That doesn't mean there will be another surge of Republicans two years from now. After all, parties still must adhere to a substantial series of legal limitations governing the composition of the districts, such as making sure districts have a similar number of voters and are compact and contiguous.

And while redistricting has recently become a refined science, Democrats can find at least some hope in looking at their own history: They had a redistricting advantage 20 years ago and then were hastily swept out of congressional power in 1994.