Gerrymandering ruins competitive races

By John Finkler

For anyone who may still wonder about the effects of GOP gerrymandering in Wisconsin, the recent State Journal article “Supermajority hopes fading” explains it sadly and clearly.

With the Nov. 3 election almost here, we could potentially have 99 hotly contested races in the state Assembly and 16 campaign battles in the state Senate. That totals 115 legislative seats up for grabs.

But as the article said so well, instead of that 115, probably only eight — that’s right, eight — legislative races in the “hotly contested” column: four in the Senate, and four in the Assembly.

The other 107? Gerrymandering probably already won at the expense of democracy. Once again, GOP politicians have picked their voters and declared themselves “winners.”