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Originally Posted by rubecube
If you only consider presidential races when measuring success...it's still not a great barometer. It's even worse when you at the House, Senate, and State legislatures. The Democrats have been getting creamed by the Republicans for years.
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While I agree in large part that the Democratic party has a ton of issues, I just want to point one thing out. Gerrymandering also has a very significant role in Democrats getting killed at the state level. For example, in 2018 in states like PA, MI, and NC, despite garnering more than 50% of the votes for state races--Democrats lost seats at that level. Republicans lost the popular vote but due to gerrymandering, they retained/gained control of the state legislature.
For example, my home state of PA:
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In Pennsylvania, Democratic candidates won 54 percent of the statewide House popular vote, but they walked away with 92 seats in the 203-seat state legislature, or 45 percent. This disparity is largely due to how the districts were drawn. Pennsylvania is unique, in that its state legislative districts are drawn by a commission consisting of the majority and minority leaders of the state House and Senate, as well as a commission chair typically appointed by the state Supreme Court.
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court happens to be a partisan institution, with Democratic and Republican judges vying for election to 10-year terms. Whichever party controls the Supreme Court, then, controls redistricting. In 2011, when state legislative districts were drawn following the 2010 Census, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court happened to have a majority of conservatives on its bench. In 2011 the Court appointed Stephen J. McEwen Jr., a well-respected conservative judge who unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a Republican in 1974, to serve as the commission’s chairman.
The maps drawn up by that commission remain in effect this year, ensuring Republicans hold on to the House majority despite losing the statewide popular vote by more than 370,000 ballots.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...ote-won-house/
So yes the Democratic party 100% has plenty of things to work on, the fact of the matter is, there are a number of their losses that happen because the GOP is essentially given a lead before the game even begins. We're so worried about the vocal minority in this country that we give them an absurd, unfair advantage.