SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
President Trump has sparked redistricting fights in Texas, California and other states that could reshape the political map. But as NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports, some longtime opponents of gerrymandering are now reconsidering their position.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #1: Ready for some more chants?
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #2: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #1: Here we go.
HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: In 2019, Common Cause took their campaign against partisan gerrymandering all the way to the Supreme Court.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Gerrymandering's got to go. Hey, hey...
WANG: But the advocacy group has softened its stance in recent weeks.
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OMAR NOURELDIN: Thanks, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. So I'm here to describe our six fairness criteria.
WANG: When its senior vice president of policy, Omar Noureldin, helped announce that Common Cause will not condemn certain gerrymandered maps to voting districts that they see as proportional to the threat posed by gerrymanders in other states.
NOURELDIN: We had to pivot our position to meet this current moment because we are not in normal times.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats.
WANG: President Trump has been making a vocal push on CNBC and other platforms for new congressional maps that could help preserve Republican control of the U.S. House of Representatives after next year's midterm election.
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TRUMP: And we are entitled to five more seats.
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GAVIN NEWSOM: They fired the first shot - Texas.
WANG: And in response, California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, led a counter push for a ballot measure in November. It's set to ask the state's voters to allow a new gerrymandered map that could help Democrats pick up five House seats.
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NEWSOM: We wouldn't be here had Texas not done what they just did, Donald Trump didn't do what he just did.
NOURELDIN: At the same time, we saw the president deploy the National Guard in D.C.
WANG: Noureldin says Common Cause has changed its position on gerrymandering because it fears Trump's moves could ultimately make him and Congress unaccountable to voters and take away any future chance to make this country's representative democracy fairer.
NOURELDIN: Proposing an end to birthright citizenship, undermining the independence of the courts, using disinformation to weaken trust in our elections. And this redistricting fight fits right in. It's about locking in control of government, no matter what voters want.
CELINA STEWART: Had this been handled years ago (laughter), we wouldn't have been quite in this place.
WANG: Celina Stewart is the CEO of the League of Women Voters. The advocacy group, like Common Cause, has softened its position against gerrymandering, and it's now urging states not to harm racial and ethnic minorities, younger voters and agricultural communities. Stewart says these ongoing redistricting fights are the result of the Supreme Court ruling in 2019, and partisan gerrymandering is not reviewable by federal courts.
STEWART: That is part of how we have gotten here now because of the unwillingness of the Supreme Court to put this in check. In addition to that, Congress has failed to act and pass legislation that would also standardize things.
WANG: During the Biden administration, Republicans blocked the Democratic push to pass a national ban on partisan gerrymandering. David Daley of FairVote - which supports nonpartisan redistricting - says that kind of ban would help, but the country also needs a different way of electing members of Congress.
DAVID DALEY: I think we ought to be looking towards a House that is much more proportional.
WANG: Daley says the House could have multiple members representing each district. Advocates say proportional representation could help temper gerrymandering and political extremism.
DALEY: Until we look really seriously at these problems and try to imagine the big structural fixes that can get us back on the right track, we are going to spiral towards the bottom and stay there.
WANG: But for now, Daley says he's watching for new gerrymandered maps that may be passed soon in states like Missouri, Ohio and Indiana.
Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News.
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