US House swing seats vanish as Republicans redraw districts

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 24 Oct, 13:32 · Archive

The number of politically competitive US House seats has fallen from 45 to 37 as partisan redistricting accelerates.

The number of politically competitive US House seats has fallen sharply from 45 to 37 following a partisan redistricting battle. Swing districts, meaning those where a presidential candidate won by 5 percentage points or fewer, are disappearing from the national map. This represents an acceleration of a decades-long trend: there were 96 such seats in 1964, when the shrinking number was first noted.

North Carolina's 13th Congressional District shows the mechanism at work. In 2022, Democrat Wiley Nickel won it narrowly by about 9,000 votes running as a moderate. The Republican-controlled legislature then redrew the congressional map, transforming the rectangular 13th District into an hourglass shape that carved out Democratic voters in Raleigh and replaced them with a swath of rural counties reaching up to the Virginia border. In 2024, Republican Brad Knott won the redrawn seat by more than 70,000 votes running as a conservative.

The erosion of swing seats has been driven by broader political polarization since World War II, as voters became less likely to split their ticket between parties and people moved closer to like-minded neighbours, creating Democratic strongholds in urban areas and Republican ones across rural America.

How it is being reported

• This US House district was once a political battleground. Now it shows why Congress is dysfunctionalThe number of politically competitive U.S. House seats is shrinking rapidly.Clickorlando · 24 Oct, 13:12
• This US House district was once a political battleground. Now it shows why Congress is dysfunctionalThe number of politically competitive U.S. House seats is shrinking rapidly.News4Jax · 24 Oct, 13:12

In this story: North Carolina · Wiley Nickel · Brad Knott · Donald Trump · Raleigh · Virginia

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