Trump-created chaos has GOP strategists baffled over how to win back the House: report
According to a report from CNN, former president Donald Trump's chaotic four years in office created problems for GOP strategists looking for a pathway back to retaking the House as voters fled the Republican Party in his wake.
At issue is the redrawing of districts that contain GOP majority voters that can be counted on for years and elections to come.
"The political upheaval caused by the rise of former President Donald Trump has forced party operatives and elected officials tasked with laying out the nation's congressional districts for the next decade to determine whether those shifts were aberrations or signs of more lasting changes," CNN Dan Merica reported before adding, "Trump's tenure saw dramatic shifts for both parties. Appalled by the then-President's caustic politics, voters in suburbs across America fled the Republican Party, backing Democrats in the 2018 midterms and Joe Biden two years later. Democrats also saw gains with more highly educated Americans. And Trump's time in office saw rural voters consolidating behind Republicans, as well as the GOP making significant inroads with Latinos in South Florida and South Texas."
Noting that maps are redrawn every ten years based on Census data, partisan mapmakers have their work cut out for them with all the shifting alliances.
"For those tasked with redistricting, especially in states with some political control, the pressure to get these calculations right is immense, given that the process could determine control of the House of Representatives for years to come," the report states. "Adding pressure to these calculations are dramatic demographic shifts across the country, with states in the upper Midwest and northeast likely to lose seats in Congress, while states like Georgia, Texas, Florida and North Carolina are set to add seats because of growth largely fueled by minority voters."
According to Adam Kincaid, the head of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, Trump has made their job much more difficult, saying mapmakers need to question whether the recent changes are "the beginning of a new long term normal or at these temporary fluxes that we are feeling right now."
'I don't think anyone has the answer to that," he admitted.