The Fight Over Gerrymandering

About this episode

The episode discusses the recent gerrymandering issues in Virginia and Texas, drawing historical parallels to the Civil War era.

April 22, 2026 Virginia voters support a constitutional amendment to temporarily redistrict the state, VA judge rules the amendment and the referendum were invalid, Virginia’s attorney general will challenge judge's decision, The partisan gerrymander race stated in Texas, Republicans are trying to excuse their partisan actions while jumping on Democrats for similar behavior, This pattern is not new, having played out before the Civil War, In 1856, northerners shocked southern leaders by calling them out for trying to destroy democracy, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks out about the importance of Democrats defending themselves, echoing that moment. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ- Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe You can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at…

People in this episode

Host: Heather Cox Richardson

Topics covered

• gerrymandering
• Virginia
• politics
• democracy
• historical patterns

Keywords

• gerrymandering
• Virginia
• Texas
• democracy
• politics
• Civil War
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Virginia’s attorney general

Places: Virginia, Texas

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