Opinion: After Prop. 50, we need to ask: Can’t we create a better democracy?

We’re officially off to the races. In response to Republican gerrymandering in Texas, California became the first Democratic state to redraw its independently drawn congressional districts in an attempt to gain five new seats and win back the House in 2026. Since the campaign for Proposition 50 began, seven new Republican states have launched gerrymandering efforts of their own, and a growing number of Democratic states aren’t far behind.

With the gerrymandering wars now fully underway, American politics has entered a new, dangerously antidemocratic era: The party that controls Congress for the rest of the 2020s will likely be determined by whichever one manipulates district lines more effectively. As both parties escalate this arms race to rig the rules, it’s worth asking: Is this really