PARTISAN REDISTRICTING AND THE 1992 CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS

Research on congressional districting after the 1970 and 1980 censuses found a short-term partisan advantage when a party controlled all three branches of state government. Results from the 1992 election indicate that, on average, partisan control of state government did little or nothing to enhance partisan gains from redistricting. The requirement that some states clear their districting changes with the Justice Department did not account for this absence of effect.