Opinion Shomari Figures' victory was great, but let's stop the cheating
The attempts to steal seats through gerrymandering were a flop. Let's end gerrymandering and restore some election integrity.
People don’t like cheaters.
It’s a fact of life. They don’t like it in sports. They don’t like it in business. And after Tuesday’s election results, it’s quite obvious to anyone with a working brain that they really don’t like it in their elections.
Because the attempts to gerrymander various districts across the country were a resounding flop.
Out of 15 targeted districts where Democrats held seats that Republicans thought they could redraw and steal, the steal worked in just three cases. And those three losses were more than made up by Republicans losing other seats because those other seats were made more vulnerable by the gerrymandering elsewhere.
So, add in a dash of karma too, I reckon.
But overwhelmingly, it was the rebuke by voters that made the difference. Not only were Democratic voters angry and motivated, but it seemed many of the Republican voters in those districts were particularly unmotivated. It resulted in a cascade of unexpected results and extremely satisfying victories.
Perhaps the greatest example of this was in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, where Democratic incumbent Representative Shomari Figures beat Republican challenger Rhett Marques by nearly 8 points. That doesn’t sound like a particularly noteworthy victory until you add in some context. Such as the fact that the district was illegally racially gerrymandered earlier this year.
At least, that’s what the federal courts and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court called the attempts to redraw Figures’ district back in 2023. That federal court threw out the maps drawn by the Alabama Legislature and drew up new ones. Figures won in 2024.
But then the case was appealed again in the wake of the Callais decision in Louisiana—the one that essentially said that as long as you pretend that racial gerrymanders are actually just partisan gerrymanders that happen to be racial, everything’s OK. But the gerrymander can’t be about race.
What did Alabama Republicans do?
They drew up an even worse map. The federal courts were flabbergasted. Trump-appointed judges not only tossed the maps out but also chastised the Republicans. Because that new map took the percentage of Black voters in CD2 from just under 50 percent to less than 40 percent. The gerrymander made it all but certain that Figures would lose and that Black voters in Alabama would once again have the power of their vote diminished by this cracking and packing.
In a stunning turn—because when have you ever seen the nation’s high court, with the exact same justices, reverse itself on the same matter in less than three years?—the Supreme Court said, “Sure, go ahead. Maps look good to us.”
Actually, I’m just joking. What the court said was actually worse than that. It said that the lower federal courts failed to consider that Alabama lawmakers who drew the maps did so with good intentions, not racism, in mind. Perhaps those courts failed to consider that because a mountain of testimony and evidence showed quite clearly that those Alabama lawmakers did not have good intentions but were instead hellbent on dividing the district by race in order to steal a House seat.
Except, Shomari then said, nah.
Actually, to be a bit more accurate, Montgomery said, nah. CD2’s largest city, which holds the greatest concentration of Democratic voters—both Black and white—in the area, turned out like Obama was on the ballot—literally. Voter turnout in Montgomery surpassed 50 percent for the first time since 2018, and the Democratic surge rivaled the record-breaking years of 2008 and 2012.
Figures won more than 75 percent of the nearly 80,000 votes cast in the capital city.
It was perhaps the most satisfying victory of the night in Alabama for Democrats, and it will pay potentially huge dividends for the state, as two highly effective Democrats—Terri Sewell also easily won reelection—will now be key cogs in a House controlled by Democrats.
But most importantly, Figures’ victory highlights the way people—even those in rural Alabama—feel about blatant cheating. Even when done in elections to help their preferred party.
No decent person likes it.
So, why don’t we stop it?
Not just in red states or blue states. Not just when Republicans do it. Let’s stop it for everyone.
Let’s implement a standard set of rules for drawing district voting lines. Let’s apply those rules fairly to all states. Let’s allow computers to handle the bulk of the work. And let’s appoint a bipartisan commission that is equally split along party lines to settle disputes and address issues.
No more of this nonsense where elected officials get to choose their voters. No more trying to quickly call special sessions of state legislatures to draw new maps because the election predictions aren’t going your way.
It’s the right thing to do. Because it forces politicians to listen to voters instead of cruising along on party identification. Seems like a win to me.
In fact, the only thing we have to lose is the pleasure of seeing a bunch of cheaters lose every now and then.
