Gerrymandering: Part 1

Season 2 began by laying out the larger picture: how the policies laid out in Project 2025 are tied to white supremacy and are shaping government decisions.

In Episode 6, the podcast moves from that overview to mechanics. This episode explains how redistricting and gerrymandering work, who controls the process, and how election outcomes can be shaped long before anyone votes — even when voters keep voting the same way.

What This Episode Covers

• How congressional districts are created
• Who controls redistricting in most states
• How packing and cracking work
• How district lines can change outcomes without changing votes
• Why maps are designed to last a decade
• How mid-decade redistricting can still occur

Why It Matters

Gerrymandering doesn’t change how people vote — it changes whether their votes matter. When district lines are drawn strategically, one party can secure a majority of seats even while losing the statewide popular vote.

Communities can be split apart, combined with distant areas they have nothing in common with, or packed into a small number of districts to limit their influence elsewhere. Over time, this creates legislatures that no longer reflect the voters they represent.

Although redistricting is meant to happen once every ten years after the census, some states allow maps to be redrawn mid-decade. Until recently, that power was used sparingly. In 2025, that restraint collapsed, turning map-drawing into an ongoing tool for preserving power when demographic or political shifts threaten existing majorities.

Understanding how redistricting works is necessary to understand how election outcomes can be shaped long before Election Day arrives.

Next Episode

In Episode 7, Bella examines who is behind gerrymandering, how it connects to Project 2025, and what actions are being taken — by political parties and by voters — to push back.