Can Pennsylvania point the way to a renewal of democracy in the United States?

We are in the midst of a national emergency caused by all three branches of the federal government being taken over by one political party, the Republicans. The hijacking of Congress began in 2010, when the Republicans, badly beaten at all levels during the Obama landslide of 2008, arrived at a strategy to take back the House of Representatives not just in the next election, but permanently.

In 2010, the GOP won control of most state legislatures, and these legislatures then set about re-drawing congressional districts to favor Republicans by gerrymandering them. The results have been stark. The Republicans now control the House of Representatives, which has become a far-right entity that fawns before President Trump.

In Pennsylvania, gerrymandering gave Republicans thirteen and the Democrats five seats in Congress—even though Democratic Party registration exceeds GOP registration in the state. Politics is a blood sport in Pennsylvania: legislators regularly put each other in jail, and the General Assembly is a famously do-nothing place ruled by right wingnuts.

And yet . . . in 2018, activists in the state engineered a brilliant legal effort to attack the lopsided redistricting, and won after fighting pitched battles all the way up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Based on in-depth interviews with the people involved, this is the story of how a few dedicated voters took up the issue of disenfranchisement and won—and how activists around the country can do the same. The next Congressional redistricting occurs after the 2020 census: progressives need to be ready well before then.

110 pages • Paperback ISBN 978-1-68219-180-4 • E-book 978-1-68219-181-1