Redistricting Could be Bloodbath for Dems

GOP can draw nearly half of new House districts

(By Aaron Blake, The Washington Post) - Republicans made huge gains in the House on Tuesday -- victories supplemented by a slew of state legislative pickups that could allow the party to not only cement their majority but also add to it in 2012.

When the next round of redistricting -- the decennial re-drawing of all 435 House districts -- occurs next year, Republicans will have complete control over the process in four times as many House districts as Democrats do, districts that comprise nearly half of the entire House, according to a review by The Fix.

Republicans took over at least 18 state legislative chambers Tuesday and made a net gain of six governors.

As things stand right now, Republicans hold the governor's mansion and both chambers of the state legislature -- the three legs of the redistricting process -- in at least 17 states, which are projected to contain 196 of the House's 435 districts next Congress.

By comparison, Democrats will hold all three redistricting legs in five to 10 states, which could draw as few as 26 districts or as many as 88. The most likely scenario given the way undecided races are currently leaning is that Democrats control the process in seven states, in which 49 congressional districts will be redrawn.

That margin -- 196 to 49 -- works out to exactly four-to-one in the GOP's favor.