Politics

The new map is supposed to help Republicans pick up five Democratic-held seats, a target set by Trump. If they succeed, Democrats will represent only eight of the state’s 38 districts, down from their current 13.

Republicans pursued this goal with a tactic called “cracking,” which means spreading Democratic-leaning voters across districts that include more Republican-leaning voters. This way, it’s harder for Democrats to patch together a majority in individual congressional races.

But the math behind this isn’t so simple. Predicting whether certain voters lean left or right, or whether they’ll cast a ballot, is complex, and getting it wrong can have consequences.