Nathan Kalmoe (he/him): Michigan and Minnesota are examples of how much great change can be accomplished when voters are given the opportunity to have vote in democratic elections for state legislature, without Republican’s minority rule imposed through gerrymandering.

Michigan and Minnesota are examples of how much great change can be accomplished when voters are given the opportunity to have vote in democratic elections for state legislature, without Republican’s minority rule imposed through gerrymandering.

Big news out of Michigan: Gov Gretchen Whitmer is set to sign bills transitioning the state to 100% clean electricity by 2040. Crucially, the bills have good labor standards designed to get working people behind the green transition. Michigan Ds are really innovating. Free link: wapo.st/3sJ6x9C

Opinion | How Gretchen Whitmer is quietly solving a big problem for Democratswapo.st Bold climate action from the Michigan governor gives the left a new guide for winning back working people.

In the case of Minnesota it also highlights the power of a one seat senate majority in the absence of the US senate’s obscene filibuster rules.

Michigan too. One seat margin.

Ohio (a red state due to gerrymandering) passed abortion rights by the same margin as Michigan (a blue state due to NOT being gerrymandered). Funny how that works.

It’s weird how when the legislature is representative of the people it is representing the outcomes tend to broader popularity and greater trust in the organs of state power. I wonder if there are any lessons there for the US federal government. Probably not, I guess.

I don’t have much faith that the US constitutional order can be reformed but one thing I’d love to see some states experiment with is multi member districts and an STV or other more sophisticated voting system.

“Clean electricity” is doing a lot of work here. Great to transition from coal. But natural gas included in clean category.

For sure. More about the package of a dozen things (30 bills in MN, actually!) than this particular one, though an improvement over Rep rule.

Also, when you have Dems who give up pandering to a mythical center, and choose to vigorously get good shit done

And Wisconsin is the control case where a blue state is gerrymandered and almost nothing can be done.

Too bad we have these razor thin margins in new york so we can’t have anything good

But the vibeprogs told me there's no difference between the parties. Were they...wrong?

Why do all the good states to live in have to be so damn cold?!

What about Washington and Oregon? NJ is pretty great, too, and it's not as cold as the upper midwest.

PNW is beautiful, but I'd kill myself from lack of sunshine. I can't handle a solid week of overcast skies as it is. NJ too $$$

so maybe governmental complexity is not always a bad thing.

I seem to keep hearing mixed messages on how much gerrymandering has shaped the makeup of Congress overall. That there’s very little difference between GOP and Dem gerrymandering. Are there states that are gerrymandered so in favor of Democrats like Ohio and North Carolina for GOP?

This is about state legislature gerrymandering, which is hugely consequential in these states. WI is regularly under minority rule and Dems have 0 chance of winning control w/o an absurd supermajority of votes. Congress is about +2 Rep on balance due to gerrymandering.

Thank you. I just looked at another source. No idea how objective it is but at least it’s an informed perspective. worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankin...

Most Gerrymandered States 2023worldpopulationreview.com

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