Rachel Ventura with polar bear-by Rep. Mary Jo KilroyLast Friday, the day of the climate strike, one of my Facebook friends posted that he was tired of boomer politicians, and wished they would go away. As a boomer myself, I pointed out to him that not all boomers are the same, and that there is a world of difference between baby boomers like George W.
The only chance the Ohio GOP has to continue winning congressional majorities is if the US Supreme Court allows extreme partisan gerrymandering-- and most people say it willEarly yesterday, a federal court unanimously struck down--
Before the Republicans in the Ohio state legislature gerrymandered Mary Jo Kilroy out of a congressional seat, she was a Blue America-backed progressive in the 15th district. Recently she introduced us to the incredible video above and to the Rick Neal for Congress campaign. By design, the district-- which has a PVI of R+7-- is no piece of cake for a Democrat. It’s one of those districts where, in 2016, Trump did better than Romney and Hillary did worse than Obama. Trump beat her 55.3% to 39.9% there and the DCCC is ignoring the district entirely.
Isn't it time to end the anti-democratic practice of gerrymandering? No, it's actually past time-- way past time. In 2012, for example, 59,645,531 Americans (48.8%) voted for Democrats running for Congress and 58,228,253 (47.6%) voted for Republicans. In a mathematically perfect world, the Democrats would have 213 seats and the Republicans would have 207 seats. That would have been a reflection of the popular will.
