Republicans have a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, so it appears the country is about evenly split. However, electoral observers question why a partisan map of the United States is about 90% red. The ocean of red is partly explained by sparsely populated rural areas versus the small blue parts of densely populated urban areas, but there is more to the story.

The high drama now playing out with the Texas Legislature recently captured national attention when Texas Democrats fled the state to deprive Texas Republicans of a quorum, so they could not pass their new congressional redistricting. Democrats are crying foul because the new redistricting plan potentially changes five congressional seats from “likely Democrat” to “likely Republican,” so Republicans could gain five seats in the 2026 congressional elections.

Make no mistake, control of Congress is a high-stakes game, so it’s not uncommon for scruples to be abandoned in the pursuit of power. The party in power in any state controls the redistricting, so they naturally draw maps to favor the party in power. Such favor is sometimes more extreme and can literally help a party keep power, but it’s not illegal. This practice has been with us for over 200 years; it’s called gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering goes back to Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry in 1812, when he dramatically drew a crazy district to favor his party that the Boston Weekly Messenger claimed looked like a salamander, so they named that district the Gerrymander. The name stuck and has been used since to describe excessive efforts to draw ridiculous congressional districts that unjustly favor one party or the other.

Again, gerrymandering is not illegal and both parties do it, but Democrats are much better at it. Texas Republicans can point to some absurd elongated districts stretched to favor Democrats, but Texas Republicans still maintain an edge in the Lone Star State. Comparing the 2024 presidential election results by state to the partisan make-up of each state’s congressional delegation helps explain why congressional representation is skewed.

Texans as a state voted 42.46% for Kamala Harris, while Texas Democrats elected 12 congressmen, which is 32% of the Texas congressional delegation. Texas Democrats are arguably underrepresented in Congress, but California Republicans are really underrepresented. Californians as a state voted 39.33% for President Trump, but due to radical gerrymandering, they were able to elect only 9 congressmen, or a mere 17% of California's delegation. Texas Democrats could claim they are underrepresented by about a fourth, but California Republicans are underrepresented by half.

Illinois and Ohio show similar results. Ohio as a state voted 43.93% for Harris, but elected 5 Republican Representatives, which is 33.3% of their delegation; but Illinois as a state voted 43.47% for Trump and elected only 3 Republican Representatives, for 18% of their delegation. New York and Florida were more moderate. Florida as a state voted 42.99% for Harris and Democrat Representatives attained 29% of the state's delegation; New York state voted 43.31 for Trump but Democrat Representatives attained only 27% of the delegation. Alabama as a state voted 34.1% for Harris and gave Democrats 29% of the congressional delegation, but Massachusetts shut out Republicans with 0% of the delegation, despite 36% of the state voting for Trump.

It’s not exact science, but clearly if a third of a state votes Republican, yet Republicans cannot elect even one congressman, the state's gerrymandering is watertight and Republican voters have been denied representation. Again, both parties tend to manipulate voting districts, but if those districts were not so unfair, Republicans would have a larger majority in Congress.

Red states are a tad less red than their congressional delegations, but many blue states are not nearly as blue as Democrats want you to believe. Both parties use gerrymandering to gain congressional seats, but some, mostly Democrats, abuse it to maintain excessive one-party power. So, Texas Republicans may be aggressive, but their efforts pale compared to what Democrats have been doing for decades.

California, Illinois, and New York are swearing they will go to war to defeat the Texas Republican redistricting plan, but their hypocrisy is remarkable when you consider Democrats perfected gerrymandering decades ago. This may seem like just "inside baseball," but the power struggle to control Congress in 2026 is well underway.

“You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another” (Leviticus 19:11).

Pete Riehm is a Navy Veteran, conservative activist, and columnist in south Alabama. Email him at peteriehm@bellsouth.net or read all his columns at http://www.renewamerica.com/.