Shhhh! I'm going to tell you a secret. Democrats hate gerrymandering. In theory everyone does, but google Democrats sue over gerrymandering and a crap-load of articles come right up. But if you look closely at the picture of incoming Democrat Congresswomen, well, well...
Stealing a photo from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Twitter feed reveals 6 very confident and proud Congresswomen. Tagged are Sharice Davids, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar and Deb Haaland.
Let's look at their districts.
Editor's Note: All numbers below from Census.gov. Census.gov is not current.
Ocasio-Cortez's 14th District in New York
According to the 2010 Census, half of Ocasio-Cortez's district is Hispanic. The 14th District had a woman representing the district just 6 years ago, Democrat Carolyn Maloney. But she got redistricted into the 12th district. When Ocasio-Cortez 'stunned' the world by beating incumbent Joe Crowley, the media failed to mention Crowley was a minority in his own redrawn district.
Sharice Davids' 3rd District in Kansas
Sharice's victory is the most remarkable of the group. A former MMA'er, current lawyer, and trailblazer in both the Native-American and LGBT communities, Davids was elected in a district that had voted primarily Republican over the past 50-60 years. Though primarily white, the district is 96% "Urban." Kansas' 3rd District did elect a woman 20 years ago. (But she was a Republican.)
Ayanna Pressley's 7th District in Massachusetts
I googled "Worst Parts of Boston" and sure enough, there, in the Middle of District 7, is Mattapan. The district twists and turns with a racial makeup of half white and asian and half black & hispanic. District 7 is a true Melting Pot. Pressley was the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts.
Ilhan Omar's 5th District in Minnesota
I used to live in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District. Let's just say the 5th District is an Urban Center. (100% Urban) The 1st District is cornfields and country bars. Whereas Ilhan Omar was born in Somalia and there's a huge Somali population center near St. Paul.
Deb Haaland's 1st District in New Mexico
Over half of the Albuquerque district is of hispanic and native-American populations. A former Tribal Administrator, Haaland beat Republican Janice Arnold-Jones for the seat in Congress. Haaland followed Michelle Lujan Grisham as the 3rd female from the 1st District in the past quarter century.
What's my point? The way the districts were drawn, you couldn't guarantee a minority woman would be elected, but with the exception of Davids' election, you could safely bet a minority would be elected. Ocasio-Cortez won a very specifically drawn district. Don't get me wrong, the door was open to these women, and they had to walk through it, all I'm saying is the Democrat Party shouldn't be talking out of both sides of their mouthes.
They like gerrymandering when it washes out in their favor. And if you are a resident around these Urban Centers, you can see why these districts were drawn in a certain way.
Would I have voted for any of these women? No way on Ocasio-Cortez, she's REALLY BAD at math. But I probably would have voted for Davids over Trump-Puppet Kevin Yoder. These elections reinforced the divisions between the city folk and the country folk, because they are drawn to reinforce divisions. You can't champion these minority women above and then in the same breath condemn gerrymandering.