How Redistricting Turned a Setback Into a Bloodbath

In the 19th century, changes to maps were not just frequent but practically routine. “Between 1862 and 1896, there was only one election year in which at least one state did not redraw its congressional districts,” Erik J. Engstrom, a political scientist at the University of California, Davis, has found.

Parties would take power, draw a new map and then get blown out when the tides turned against them in subsequent elections; their dummymanders couldn’t withstand the pressure. Republicans picked up 64 House seats in 1872, only to lose 94 seats in 1874.

After the 1890 census, Democrats were able to redraw 148 House districts, compared with just 40 for Republicans. And they got greedy.

There wasn’t much margin for error. In those days, in contrast to today, large shares of districts remained competitive cycle after cycle. In the late 19th century, nearly 40 percent of House districts were decided by 5 percentage points or less. After the 1890 census, Democrats didn’t bulk up their more promising territories, instead maximizing the number of districts that were conceivably winnable.






https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/10/redistricting-dummymandering-history-1894-election-00643350