In his latest column in The Baltimore Sun titled, “The GOP chamber puzzle,” Political Science Professor Thomas Schaller writes about how the Republican party holding a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives but not in the Senate is an historical anomaly.
“As I explain in ‘The Stronghold,’ my forthcoming book from Yale University Press, Republicans have been a stronger presence in the Senate in the past half century party because more of the small-population states lean Republican. Therefore, the GOP has consistently held a higher share of Senate seats than the population contained in the states the party’s senators represent,” Schaller writes.
He adds that with the Republicans’ built-in small state advantage, it is puzzling that they control the House but not the Senate and that it should be the inverse. In the column, he does offer an explanation for why this is the case.
“The short answer, of course, is gerrymandering. Thanks to a strong 2010 election cycle in which the GOP posted significant gubernatorial and state legislative wins, Republican state leaders were able to draw favorable U.S. House lines in many states. (Solidly Democratic Maryland was an exception.)”
To read the full column published on August 5, click here.
Tags: CAHSS, PoliticalScience
