Democrats lost the House because they won fewer votes

The bad takes will circulate for a while. Ignore them.

I’ve just read an article claiming that independent redistricting commissions cost the Democrats the House this cycle, and calling for Democrats to abolish independent redistricting commissions in states they control in order to carry out blatant partisan gerrymandering. I’m sure this article isn’t alone or isolated; I’ve been reading and hearing comments from loyal Democrats saying the same thing. This is wrong on several levels.

Republicans won more votes than Democrats in 2022, as frequently happens in midterm elections when a Democratic president is in the White House. Because their House candidates won more votes, they deserve to have more seats. Gerrymandering is erosive and corrosive, and it remains important for reformers to fight gerrymandering as much as they can.

The 2022 results summarized

Right now, it looks like Democrats won 3.5 million fewer votes nationally. This margin is likely to shrink a bit as California and New York finish counting; these are Democratic strongholds that are notoriously slow at counting. Based on projected turnout and current trends in results, California and New York may narrow the margin to about 2.5 million votes. If we look only at votes cast for the two parties, House Republicans probably won by a margin of close to 3 percentage points.