Both in conversation and in the book, Toscano pointed to various ways state governments manage to control the political course of the country, not the least of which being how congressional district lines are drawn. Citing the Virginia state government, which until recently had a majority Republican legislature despite years of Democrats holding the highest statewide offices, Toscano said the party in control can design the districts to benefit itself.
“So you can see that even though a state may have a majority Democratic voting position, if its House and Senate composition is Republican, they can draw lines that disadvantage the Democrats,” he said. “You see that in other states, like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, that all have Democratic governors but the lines drawn by the legislature were such that Republicans control it.”
By controlling a state’s legislature, Toscano said the majority party is able to determine voting laws that impact people more directly than many federal laws. These efforts can include setting voter ID laws, determining how much early voting is permitted, whether there will be mobile voting sites and other rules.
Voting laws represent a huge battle going on now in many states, Toscano said, and ultimately those state legislatures are going to make a big difference in who ends up elected to Congress.
“Fighting Political Gridlock” also considers changes to the electorate’s perspective, which Toscano argues is now more politicized and aligned more with a particular party than any individual. This is at least partially tied to the decline of local news media, he said, which has led to consumers turning to larger national media outlets for information.
