On August 29, 2025, the Texas State Legislature passed, and Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a new congressional district map that, in theory, eliminates five Democratic held districts beginning with the 2026 midterms. Following the lead set by Texas, the governors and legislators in Missouri, Florida, Indiana, among others are either considering or calling for special sessions to do the same exact thing that Texas just recently did.
In response, California governor Gavin Newsome is pushing the General Assembly in California to put on the ballot a new gerrymandered Congressional District map that would eliminate five (5) Republican held seats in California via a ballot referendum to bypass the state commission and have a state commission. Illinois Governor Comrade J.B. Pritzker threatened to call a special session to redraw the congressional maps for Illinois to eliminate three (3) more republican held seats. Redraw the new congressional maps from what......a congressional map that is already the MOST GERRYMANDERED MAP in the entire United States of America!?
Do you think I am joking and/or making it up? In fact, Illinois has the dubious distinction of having the most jerrymandered map in the entire United States of America going back at least three (3) decades…..a fact that has not been lost on even the Ancient Media.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Gerrymandering is “…the practice of drawing electoral district boundaries to give one political party an advantage (political gerrymandering) or to dilute the voting power of racial or ethnic minority groups (racial gerrymandering).” Encyclopedia Britannica says that the term originates from the name of Gov. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, whose 1812 law created districts benefiting his party. The shape of one district resembled a salamander, inspiring the term.
A Red State is a US state that predominantly votes for or supports the Republican Party while a Blue State is a US state that predominantly votes for or supports the Democratic Party.
During the August 10, 2025, edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, anchor/moderator Kristen Welker confronted Illinois Governor Comrade J.B. Pritzker on that very subject:
KRISTEN WELKER, Host:
Well, look. Sticking on your state's map, every major group that grades the fairness of congressional maps gives your state an “F.” Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog, even says your map, and I'm going to quote, "represents a nearly perfect model for everything that can go wrong with redistricting." And I guess the question is, you talk about preserving democracy. How do you preserve democracy if you're using the same tactics that you've criticized Texas Republicans for?
(Illinois) GOV. J.B. PRITZKER:
But as I say, what they're talking about is a distraction. The reality is that the violation of people's voting rights is what Texas is attempting to do. That's what's wrong with their efforts right now. And the fact that the president of the United States knows it and nevertheless, is asking them to do it. That is what's wrong with what we're seeing right now. Democracy is at stake, and these Texas Democrats are standing up to what the GOP is attempting to do, which is to steal seats because they know what they've done is wrong. They know that they've made an enormous mistake.
Meet the Press with KRISTEN WELKER
– August 10, 2025 – Transcript Video
In the interview, J.B. Pritzker was doing everything he can to try to duck the question posed by Kristen Welker even to the point of trying to blame Texas governor Greg Abbott for Illinois’ map…a map that he himself signed into law despite promising never to approve such maps back in 2021!
On September 9th, 2025, the Missouri General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a new 7 to 1 Republican congressional districts map and taking a lead from Texas’ General Assembly.
The revolutionary “Missouri First” map ….Passed in the house by a 90-65 vote and in the Senate by a 21-11 vote, GOP legislators approved a redistricting plan that splits the current Democratic 5th District in the Kansas City area between three congressional districts in the new map, which is awaiting Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe's signature to become law.
Legislatures in other red states such as Florida and Indiana are considering redrawing their legislative maps or the term is called gerrymandering. The claims by politicians like Governors JB Pritzker in Illinois, Kathy Hochul in New Your State, and Gavin Newsome in California that the Republican states are "destroying democracy” and “…. are thwarting the will of the people” just falls on deaf ears, considering that the Democrat run states have been doing It for years, if not decades. Just look at these recent examples as provided by HonestLee2022 on X:
State GOP Voters * Action Taken Maryland (2011) 23.88% Redrew 6th District to flip it Democratic, securing 7-1 seat advantage. Illinois (2021) 27.53% Eliminated 2 GOP seats, created 1 Democratic seat for 14-3 edge New York State (2021) 22.79% Drew map for 22-4 Democratic seats; struck down by courts. California (2021) 25.41% Alleged Democratic tilt via commission, yielding 44-3 safe seats Massachusetts (2011-2021) 8.37% Packed GOP voters for 9-0 Democratic delegation. Oregon (2021) 23.88% Redrew for 5-1 Democratic seats, cracking GOP voters New Mexico (2021) 32.24% Adjusted maps to secure 3-0 Democratic delegation Nevada (2021) 28.33% Redrew for 3-1 Democratic seats, packing GOP voters New Jersey (2021) 25.34% Tilted map to favor Democrats in most of 12 seats. *Source: Independent Voter Project
All of the above-mentioned states had Republican voter registrations between 8% and 48%....and yet (except for Illinois and California) have either just one (1) Republican representative in Congress or absolutely no Republican representatives in Congress whatsoever.
As I said, Democrats have been doing Gerrymandering for decades and Republicans are now taking a page from the Democrats’ playbook…...although I believe both parties have been doing it to some extent. The one thing I like about the New Missouri Congressional map is that the districts were drawn for Compactness, which I’ll discuss in a moment.
I am not a fan of gerrymandering of congressional districts…...no matter which political party is doing it. When redrawing the congressional districts (normally done every 10 years after a census is completed), ONLY the following factors should be considered……
- Citizenship – the number of U.S. citizens in a state. NO Green card holders, illegal Aliens a.k.a. undocumented immigrants, etc. Only U.S. Citizens are to be counted in the Census, which the congressional districts are required to be based on.
- Number of people in a District – each Congressional District in the state should have the same number of people in each congressional district. For example, the state of Missouri has a population of 6,282,890…. meaning that each of the eight (8) congressional districts should have a population of 785,361.
- Compactness – according to ballotpedia.org, Compactness refers to the principle that the constituents residing within an electoral district should live as near to one another as possible. Compactness can be measured as a ratio of the circumference of a district and its total area. In other words, congressional maps like what Illinois has now would not be acceptable nor allowed at all.
Drawing the congressional boundaries using only the factors of Citizenship, Number of people in a District, and Compactness will not only eliminate gerrymandering, but make the elections much fairer and more trusted by the American Voters once again. This might be a novel idea, but lets draw the districts like I suggested above and let the chips fall where they may.
And that is the Big B Files. Click on the comments link below and tell me what you think……I’m Bryan V. Hewing.
