--- title: Why the Midterm Results Should Concern All Americans description: The 2018 midterm election results are increasingly not representative, especially for the House of Representatives—it's time to change that. canonical: https://time.com/5449459/midterm-elections-2018-results-gerrymandering/ author: Michael Li article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-08T19:13:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:05:45.422Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why the Midterm Results Should Concern You Regardless of Which Party You Support og:description: The House of Representatives is not representative og:url: https://time.com/5449459/midterm-elections-2018-results-gerrymandering/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ffedbb349fbc053/69893e9ab21a9c14d34ff6b1/gerrymandering-2018-midterms.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: gerrymandering-2018-midterms og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why the Midterm Results Should Concern You Regardless of Which Party You Support twitter:description: The House of Representatives is not representative twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ffedbb349fbc053/69893e9ab21a9c14d34ff6b1/gerrymandering-2018-midterms.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why the Midterm Results Should Concern You Regardless of Which Party You Support > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=a74a9c7e-359a-4fd7-a63e-2d58f24e9a2e&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Redder. Bluer. Trumpier. America Is About to Be Even More Divided [Watch (HLS stream): Redder. Bluer. Trumpier. America Is About to Be Even More Divided](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2Gr7iLqd.m3u8) (2:54)  _Published 2018-11-09. By the time Nancy Pelosi took the stage at the Hyatt Regency in Washington on Election Day, it was nearly midnight and the panic had passed._ by [Michael Li](https://time.com/author/michael-li/) ## Michael Li Nov 8, 2018 7:13 PM UTC by [Michael Li](https://time.com/author/michael-li/) ## Michael Li Nov 8, 2018 7:13 PM UTC As the partisans clear through the rubble, the results of the [2018 midterm elections](http://time.com/5448555/nielsen-36-million-midterms/) should deeply disturb all Americans who care about representative democracy no matter their politics. That’s because despite the[ Democrats](http://time.com/5447422/midterm-elections-2018-democrats/)’ approximately seven-point win of the percentage of votes cast, Democrats look likely to win only 37 seats. This is a mockery of the notion held by John Adams and the founding fathers that Congress should be an “exact portrait, a miniature” of the people as a whole. Contrast that to the [Tea Party](http://time.com/5356045/constitutional-convention-tea-party/) wave of 2010, when a seven-point win by [Republicans](http://time.com/5446140/missouri-senate-mccaskill-hawley/) gave them 63 seats. Democrats may have the satisfaction of a majority, but it is by modern standards a razor-thin one. It’s also a majority that may be hard to hold in 2020 if the highly unusual wave dynamics of 2018 don’t repeat themselves. This unrepresentative outcome has to do in large part with aggressive gerrymandering in a handful of key states like [North Carolina](http://time.com/5447924/amber-alert-north-carolina-teen-abducted/), Ohio and [Michigan](http://time.com/5445757/democratic-women-michigan/). In North Carolina, Democrats won half the congressional vote but less than a quarter of seats. In fact, not a single congressional seat in North Carolina changed parties in 2016 and 2018\. The results are equally stark for Ohio, where the two major parties regularly split the vote nearly fifty-fifty, but Republicans have maintained a lopsided 12 to 4 advantage in the Ohio congressional delegation since 2012. Never have maps been more gerrymandered. But also never have there been so many massive wave elections to test the strength of [gerrymanders](http://time.com/4965673/wisconsin-supreme-court-gerrymandering-research/). So far in the four elections of the decade, gerrymanders are undefeated, producing with rare exception, exactly the results they were designed to do. The [slim majority](http://time.com/5442973/democrats-won-house-majority-plans/) that Democrats won this year, in fact, rests not so much on overcoming gerrymandering than on racking up wins in districts in states like New York, [California](http://time.com/5448575/rep-steve-knight-concedes-katie-hill-california/) and Minnesota, where maps were drawn after the 2010 census by commissions, split-control governments or courts. Of the 37 seats that Democrats have picked up (or look likely to pick up when the counting is done), just 19% were drawn by GOP-controlled legislatures. By comparison, 30% were drawn by commissions, and 43% were drawn by courts. (The latter includes four districts that Democrats picked up in Pennsylvania because this spring a court replaced the state’s aggressively gerrymandered map — which gave Republicans 13 of 18 congressional districts — with a more neutrally drawn map.) In contrast to politically-calculated maps that strategically slice and dice voters with the goal of [locking](http://time.com/5360344/congress-democracy-madison/) in the advantage of one party over the other, maps drawn through these less politically charged processes give far more weight to things like keeping communities and political subdivisions together. And they also are far more responsive to shifts in voter sentiment. As Democrats win more votes, they win more seats. The same is also true in reverse: as Republicans win more votes, they win more seats. That is how our democracy was meant to function. We shouldn’t have to depend on tsunami-level wave elections to bring about political change. The good news is that Americans of all political persuasions increasingly seem to understand this. These midterm elections, voters also handed victories to measures in [four states](https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/current-citizen-efforts-reform-redistricting) — Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Utah — that will create a more transparent and independent process for drawing the next set of maps. In Colorado, the reform measures won more than 70% of the vote. Measures in Michigan and Missouri weren’t far behind, outperforming both Democratic and Republican candidates (and in Michigan, outpacing a marijuana referendum). Robust citizen-led [reform efforts](https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/current-citizen-efforts-reform-redistricting) also are underway in states like Virginia, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Less certain is whether courts understand how much gerrymandering is undermining American democracy. For three decades, the [Supreme Court](http://time.com/5449074/ruth-bader-ginsburg-broken-ribs/) has tried and failed to create a workable formulation for policing gerrymandering. Most recently, this past June, it punted and sent partisan gerrymandering cases from Wisconsin and Maryland back to lower courts on technical grounds. The Justices will have another chance this spring when they are expected to hear a challenge to North Carolina’s badly gerrymandered congressional map, and several other partisan gerrymandering cases are not far behind. State courts might also be inclined to follow the example of the [Pennsylvania](http://time.com/5446758/pennsylvania-man-threatened-shoot-polls/) Supreme Court and get involved by providing a critical check and balance when maps go too far. But time is running short. The next round of map-drawing takes place in early 2021\. If fairer processes aren’t in place by then, and if [courts](http://time.com/5428000/don-mcgahn-leaves-white-house/) continue to be unwilling to do their job in safeguarding American democracy, there is every indication that the next round of gerrymandering will be even more pernicious than those of this decade. Indeed, increasingly robust map-drawing technology and voter-specific big data [technology](http://time.com/5336615/democracy-will-prevail/) will make it possible to draw maps with a degree of micro-precision that was undreamed of when this decade’s maps were drawn in 2011. There is a lot that can be done to ensure that representation in the [House](http://time.com/5423623/house-representatives-number-seats/) is fairer and closer to the Framers’ vision of a body that looks like America. But time is running out. If we are to save our democracy, we have to act now. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] The midterm elections marked a significant shift in American politics. Democrats reclaim the House of Representatives, while Republicans strengthen their report on the Senator. But digging farther to how won shows how different the new Congress will be. [ MUSIC ] The number of women in the House of Representatives will reach an historic high when new members are sworn in next January largely due to Democrats. More than 30 House of Representatives seats went to female candidates this year as a record number of women ran for Congress. Many of the women say they were inspired to run by Donald Trump's win in 2016 and his behavior as president since then. 29- year- old Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez is now the youngest elected member. And Democrats Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota will become the first Muslim women in Congress. [ UNKNOWN ] Democrat Sherice Davids of Kansas and Deb Holland of New Mexico gained victories as the first Native American women to be voted into congress while republican Marsha Blackburn will become the first female senator from Tennessee. [ MUSIC ] 2018 is shaping- up to be historic for voter turnout as well. Early numbers indicate approximately 114 million votes cast, much higher than the 83 million cast in 2014. With control of Congress at stake, turns out was high among both Democrats and Republicans eager to make their stamp on Trump's next two years in office. Popular ballot measures and voting rights, abortion and marijuana also contributed. [ MUSIC ] Trump was not on the ballot, but many voters acted as he was. The president heavy campaigning in red states appeared to help Republican candidates over the line. At the same time, the President's unpopularity drove turnout in many Democratic areas, and appeared to hurt Republican house candidates running in the suburbs of major cities. As democrats clean the house a the incoming chairs of 21 committees will be looking for ways to press forward on investigations they feel more ignored under the Republic in majority. This is likely to include likes Trump's personal financial conflicts as well as as well as controversies around members of his administration such as. Former EPA director Scott Pruitt. Some Democratic veterans have urged restraint, arguing that the new House majority should take its time to work through the most urgent investigations and avoid the appearance of a free for all. Trump argued that investigations would harm any ability for him to work with the Democrats on bipartisan legislation on infrastructure and other issues. The 2018 mid- terms may be over but the repercussions from election night will be felt for years to come. 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