Re:When California Was the Bear Republic
by seanmcdirmid on Monday July 16, 2018 @02:34PM
(#17543743)
If all those new states go blue, however, republicans lose out on the two extra electoral votes per state. I don’t think republicans really like this either, even SoCal is in the process of going blue in the near term.
California is not currently gerrymandered as far as house seats. That could change for any the three new states.
The biggest change would actually be the electoral college. Currently California is winner-take-all and reliably blue. If they split it without splitting another large state like Texas, that compounds the current Republican advantage and makes it even easier for a Republican president to be elected while losing the popular vote.
In other words, Draper's ballot initiative is a gerrymander which benefits Republicans. And that's one reason it's going nowhere.