From The New York Times:

The new districts are supposed to reflect the population shifts measured by the census. In practice, though, officials in both parties often try to gerrymander districts to help themselves and their parties win more elections.

So both parties are working frantically to eke out victories in state legislatures, pouring resources into races that are traditionally measured by the number of doors knocked on, not the number of ads broadcast.

For Democrats, the prospect of legislative losses could not come at a worse time. Gains in the past decade have left them in control of both chambers of the legislature in 27 states, while Republicans control both chambers in only 14 states; eight states have divided legislatures. (One, Nebraska, has a unicameral legislature and nonpartisan elections.) Republicans are predicting that they will gain at least 10 chambers this fall, which they say would give them the power to redraw up to 25 Congressional districts.

“That will have a huge impact down the line,” said Ed Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican Party who now runs a 527 organization called the Republican State Leadership Committee that expects to spend some $18 million this year on state elections. “Not just on taxes, schools and roads and the important business of state government, but also in terms of representation for a decade in Congress.”

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