Roll Call has what passes for a sob story in Washington. Michigan democrat congressmen who have been in office longer than most dictators are upset that Republicans control redistricting in Michigan.
Michigan Democrats Weary Over Redistricting
Just who are we talking about?
Congressman Age Years in Office
John Dingell....84...56
John Conyers...81...47
Dale Kildee.....81...35
Sander Levin...79...29
Just for comparison...
Dictator............ Age Years in Office
Fidel (Raul) Castro..85...51
Muammar Gadafi....68...41
Qaboos................70...40
Khalifa Al Khalifa.....75...39
What would they do if they weren't if office? They'd probably starve to death!
These four pillars of statesmanship are about to see their super-safe districts change shape. How can this be allowed to happen?? Oh, the humanity!!!
One of the downsides of gerrymandering is that it creates a few very safe districts for the other side. Ten years ago, Michigan Republicans figured that if these gerontocrats weren't going anywhere, they might as well represent as many democrats as possible. The fact is, the only time that these four face a competitive election is (maybe) once every ten years.
The Roll Call article never bothers to mention that the reason that democrats in southeast Michigan keep going through 'tough redistrictings' is that the region keeps losing population--often in absolute terms and certainly relative to the rest of the United States. Might this have something to do with the policies that they have advocated over the last 50 years?
The most likely outcome of redistricting this year is for Sander Levin and Gary Peters to end up in the same district. Who would win a battle between them would depend on how much of their current districts end up in the new district.
It's likely that John Dingell will be telling young whippersnappers in Congress about the Eisenhower administration for years to come.
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