美国国家公共电台 NPR--New district maps could help Democrats in the upcoming election

New district maps could help Democrats² in the upcoming election

Transcript³

In a few key battleground states, new district voting maps may help Democrats pick up some state legislative⁴ seats in this midterm election.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The Republican Party controls almost two-thirds of state legislatures in this country. That is due in part to a successful GOP strategy of redistricting launched years ago. But in this midterm election, some new maps in some battleground states may change the odds⁵ of who's in power. Here's NPR's Laura Benshoff.

LAURA BENSHOFF, BYLINE⁶: Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz has a lot on her plate. She owns a restaurant, serves on her local city council...

JOHANNY CEPEDA-FREYTIZ: And I'm running to become the next state representative of the 129th District.

BENSHOFF: The 129th Pennsylvania House District is about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia. It includes part of Reading, a small city that is majority Democrat¹ and Latino. But it also covers some of the surrounding county, which is whiter and more Republican. Cepeda-Freytiz grew up between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. She says she went into politics to help her community.

CEPEDA-FREYTIZ: Being in a city that's predominately Latino, where a lot of people speak more Spanish than English, for years we weren't really represented or served.

BENSHOFF: When Pennsylvania adopted a new legislative map, it redrew the lines around the 129th. That's one major reason Cepeda-Freytiz decided⁷ to run.

CEPEDA-FREYTIZ: It did a complete shift, allowing the area to be 52% Democrats.

BENSHOFF: Every 10 years, states redraw district lines based on the new census⁸ numbers. Sam Wang, director of the Gerrymandering Project at Princeton University, says in most states, the party in power runs the redistricting process.

SAM WANG: It's this endless feedback where the state legislature plays a hand in drawing its own lines, runs for office in those lines and then can stay in office.

BENSHOFF: Both parties do this, but there is a growing backlash against such partisan⁹ gerrymandering. In Pennsylvania, the most recent mapmaking commission was chaired by an outside expert. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Commonwealth¹⁰, but the GOP has run the state legislature for a decade. The new map still favors Republicans but less heavily than before, according to Wang. He says other states decided to change their mapmaking practice entirely¹¹.

WANG: Some states have stepped up and, through citizen initiative, reformed their process. And that's the case in places like Michigan and Virginia.

BENSHOFF: That makes Democrats hopeful. Jessica Post is president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

JESSICA POST: We'll see the first fair state Senate map in about 40 years in Michigan this election cycle. And so that gives us a shot to flip¹² the Michigan State Senate.

BENSHOFF: But that's ambitious during a midterm year when Republicans would normally be expected to make gains.

ADAM KINCAID: There's a big difference between flipping¹³ chambers¹⁴ and flipping seats.

BENSHOFF: Adam Kincaid is with the National Republican Redistricting Trust. While Democrats are gunning to take control of chambers in Pennsylvania and Michigan, he's not overly worried.

KINCAID: Nationally, the climate is good for the GOP. You know, at the same time, the commissions in a few states didn't do Republicans any favors.

BENSHOFF: Kincaid says new maps could also cause Democrats to lose seats in their strongholds. For example, in the New York State Senate, a judge there threw out political maps as unfairly biased¹⁵ towards Democrats. Drawing district lines is so contentious¹⁶ because these maps create a kind of political destiny. For example, let's go back to that Pennsylvania race we heard about at the top. I never heard back from the Republican candidate. But Democrat Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz is feeling good about her odds because of the new map.

CEPEDA-FREYTIZ: This will be the first time, when I win, that it'll be a Democratic seat.

BENSHOFF: When I win. It's not if I win. It's when I win.

CEPEDA-FREYTIZ: I have to speak - it's when I win. I have to speak it into existence, right?

BENSHOFF: It helps that the district now leans in her favor.

Laura Benshoff, NPR News, Philadelphia.

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

5 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

9 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

10 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

11 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

12 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

13 flipping   

讨厌之极的

参考例句：

• I hate this flipping hotel! 我讨厌这个该死的旅馆！
• Don't go flipping your lid. 别发火。

14 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

15 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

16 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。