Gerrymandering is bad. When either party does it. There are examples of democrats taking advantage of it but republicans have raised it to an art form. Without gerrymandering, the U.S. House would probably have remained in the hands of the Democratic party in recent years and this year's election would have been a disaster for republicans instead of just a sound defeat.
North Carolina is a
perfect example. Despite a clear
majority of congressional votes going to democrats this year, republicans will hold 10 of North Carolina's 13 House seats. Similar vote totals in 2016 (democrats took just under half the vote) yielded the same democratic-republican breakdown. Ohio suffers from the same gerrymandered mis-representation. In 2016 approximately 42% of votes for the U.S. House went to democrats yet just 4 of the 16 Ohio seats were won by democrats. This year it was even worse. Democrats won 48% of all house votes but Ohio will still send the same 4 democrats from the same 4 districts to Washington.
Ohio will be a reliably red state for the next generation at least as far as the presidential races and most statewide elections. But fairly drawn districts in both state and federal House races would yield a much more equitable and accurate representation of the people's voting choices. While I feel like all of the electoral work I have done since the summer was wasted (a red sweep of state races and the only state-wide ballot measure failed, despite my wishes) I at least am happy that Ohio did pass a measure to combat the horrible gerrymandering in this state last May that my organization worked to craft and get on the ballot. Fairly drawn districts would likely send at least 6 and probably 7 (if not even 8 because it is impossible to draw districts perfectly) Representatives to Washington and would prevent a veto-proof majority in the State House and Senate. If Ohio democrats ever manage to field a governor's candidate with an actual pulse and some fire that will matter.