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As the 2020 redistricting process comes to a close, it is clear that our winner-take-all system—where each U.S. House district is represented by a single person—is fundamentally broken. We call on Congress to adopt inclusive, multi-member districts with competitive and responsive proportional representation.

According to a recent analysis of the newly-redistricted House map, more than 90% of districts are effectively a lock for one of the parties this November. This means that many millions of voters have no meaningful say in general elections, with the overwhelming majority of Congress effectively chosen by low-turnout primaries. In other words, winner-take-all increasingly means we already know the outcome of almost any given race.

This collapse in competitive elections helps explain why Congress today is so polarized and held hostage by obstructionist politics. Because 90% of House members don’t have to worry about general elections and are beholden only to their district’s small number of primary voters, extreme elements are overrepresented to the point where one party in our two party system has been taken over by members that reject democracy itself.

Contrary to popular belief, geography—not gerrymandering—is the primary cause of this districting crisis. As the country has sorted geographically, with Democrats concentrating in cities and Republicans in rural areas, it is often impossible to draw competitive single-member districts that offer any semblance of geographic continuity and that keep communities of interest together. In fact, maps drawn by nonpartisan commissions in this redistricting cycle had just as few highly competitive districts as those drawn by politicians.

At the same time, our political divisions are far less dire than our electoral system implies. At the level of narrow, winner-take-all districts, only the majority opinion gets represented and we appear divided between fully Democratic and fully Republican districts. But on the scale of our communities, regions, and states, the United States remains a diverse and complex political tapestry. In 2020, there were more Trump voters in California than any other state and more Biden voters in Texas than in New York or Illinois. The vast—even overwhelming—majority of Americans don’t fit precisely into the ideology of their single-member congressional representation.

Congress has the ability to embrace this political richness by joining most other advanced democracies in moving to more inclusive, multi-member districts made competitive and responsive by proportional representation.

The effects would be far-reaching and salutary. More proportional representation would render gerrymandering obsolete and help ensure that a political party’s share of votes in an election actually determines how many seats it holds in the House. Larger, multi-member districts would mean almost every voter could cast a meaningful vote, regardless of where they live. And as the Supreme Court further weakens the Voting Rights Act, proportional representation allows communities of color to have their voices reflected—and their candidates elected—at the ballot box.

This fix would require only an act of Congress. Proportional, multi-member districts are not only constitutional, they are broadly consistent with American history and political norms. In fact, multi-member House districts were common across the country for over 150 years—albeit without proportional representation, which proved a fatal flaw, as at-large districts were used to effectively disenfranchise minority groups and grossly over-represent narrow majorities. Congress must now improve upon, not ignore, this history.

This redistricting cycle is a wake-up call for voters and our elected representatives. Our arcane, single-member districting process divides, polarizes, and isolates us from each other. It has effectively extinguished competitive elections for most Americans, and produced a deeply divided political system that is incapable of responding to changing demands and emerging challenges with necessary legitimacy.

Accordingly, we urge Congress to ensure that this is the last redistricting cycle under a failed single-winner system and to adopt inclusive, multi-member districts with more proportional representation.

Sincerely,

‍Daron Acemoglu
‍Massachusetts Institute of Technology

‍William Aceves
‍California Western School of Law

‍Peter Christian Aigner
‍CUNY Graduate Center
‍
William Aceves
‍California Western School of Law
‍
Peter Christian Aigner
CUNY Graduate Center
‍
John Aldrich
Duke University
‍
Tyler Anbinder
George Washington University
‍
Anne-Marie Angelo
University of Sussex
‍
Elisabeth Anker
George Washington University
‍
Bettina Aptheker
University of California, Santa Cruz
‍
Deborah Avant
University of Denver
‍
Robert Axelrod
University of Michigan
‍
David Barker
American University
‍
Naazneen Barma
University of Denver
‍
John Barry
Tulane University
‍
David Bateman
Cornell University
‍
Rachel Beatty Riedl
Cornell University
‍
Ruth Ben-Ghiat
New York University
‍
Paul Bender
Arizona State University
‍
Sheri Berman
Barnard College
‍
John Bieter
Boise State University
‍
Robert Blair
Brown University
‍
Jon Bond
Texas A&M University
‍
Adam Bonica
Stanford University
‍
Nikolas Bowie
Harvard Law School
‍
John Brooke
The Ohio State University
‍
Nadia Brown
Georgetown university
‍
John Carey
Dartmouth College
‍
Simone Caron
Wake Forest University
‍
Alton Carroll
Northern Virginia Community College
‍
Dan Carter
University of South Carolina
‍
Alessandra Casella
Columbia University
‍
Katherine Charron
North Carolina State University
‍
Erica Chenoweth
Harvard University
‍
Beverly Cigler
Pennsylvania State University
‍
Joshua Cohen
University of California, Berkeley

Lizabeth Cohen
Harvard University
‍
Josep M. Colomer
Georgetown University
‍
Mark Copelovitch
University of Wisconsin – Madison
‍
Michael Coppedge
University of Notre Dame
‍
Robert Cottrell
‍
Gary Cox
Stanford University
‍
Melody Crowder-Meyer
Davidson College
‍
Matt Dallek
George Washington University
‍
Christian Davenport
University of Michigan
‍
Hannah Demeritt
Duke University School of Law
‍
Matthew Dennis
University of Oregon
‍
Lee Drutman
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‍
Thomas Dublin
State University of New York at Binghamton
‍
Chris Edelson
American University
‍
Mark Edwards
Spring Arbor University
‍
Nate Ela
University of Cincinnati
‍
Kevin Esterling
University of California, Riverside
‍
Matthew Evangelista
Cornell University
‍
Sara M. Evans
University of Minnesota
‍
Christina Ewig
University of Minnesota
‍
David Faris
Roosevelt University
‍
Christopher Federico
University of Minnesota
‍
Ronald Feinman
Florida Atlantic University
‍
Steven Fish
University of California, Berkeley
‍
Dana R. Fisher
University of Maryland
‍
Jill Frank
Cornell University
‍
William Franko
West Virginia University
‍
Caroline Fredrickson
Georgetown Law
‍
Amy Fried
University of Maine
‍
Scott Frisch
California State University, Channel Islands
‍
Francis Fukuyama
Stanford University
‍
Daniel Galvin
Northwestern University
‍
Marshall Ganz
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
‍
Martin Gilens
University of California, Los Angeles
‍
Simon Gilhooley
Bard College
‍
Annalise Glauz-Todrank
Wake Forest University
‍
Benjamin Goldfrank
Seton Hall University
‍
Sara Goodman
University of California, Irvine
‍
Jake Grumbach
University of Washington
‍
Hannah Gurman
New York University
‍
Nancy Hagedorn
State University of New York at Fredonia
‍
Hahrie Han
Johns Hopkins University
‍
Gretchen Helmke
University of Rochester
‍
Charlotte Hill
University of California, Berkeley
‍
Jennifer Hochschild
Harvard University
‍
Wesley Hogan
Duke University
‍
Aziz Huq
University of Chicago
‍
Jeffrey Isaac
Indiana University, Bloomington
‍
Karl Jacoby
Columbia University
‍
Dolores E. Janiewski
Victoria University of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka
‍
Joel Johnson
Colorado State University – Pueblo
‍
Nathan Kalmoe
Louisiana State University
‍
Nancy Kassop
State University of New York at New Paltz
‍
Richard Katz
Johns Hopkins University
‍
Peter Katzenstein
Cornell University
‍
Thomas Keck
Syracuse University
‍
Nathan Kelly
University of Tennessee
‍
Robert Keohane
‍
Alex Keyssar
Harvard University
‍
Helen Kinsella
University of Wisconsin-Madison
‍
Rachel Kleinfeld
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
‍
James Kloppenberg
Harvard University
‍
Louise W. Knight
Northwestern University
‍
Richard Kohn
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
‍
Ronald Krebs
University of Minnesota
‍
Daniel Kreiss
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
‍
Aleksander Ksiazkiewicz
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
‍
Tim Lacy
Loyola University Chicago
‍
David D. Laitin
Stanford University
‍
Derek Larson
The College of St. Benedict/St. John's University
‍
Bruce Larson
Gettysburg College
‍
Jeffrey  Lerner
Wake Forest University
‍
Margaret Levi
Stanford University
‍
Peter Levine
Tufts University
‍
Steven Levitsky
Harvard University
‍
Robert Lieberman
Johns Hopkins University
‍
Robert Lifset
University of Oklahoma
‍
Arend Lijphart
University of California, San Diego
‍
Kriste Lindenmeyer
Rutgers University
‍
Nancy MacLean
Duke University
‍
Scott Mainwaring
University of Notre Dame
‍
Thomas Mann
Brookings Institution
‍
Jane Manners
Temple University
‍
John Martin
Duke University
‍
Seth Masket
University of Denver
‍
Fritz Mayer
University of Denver
‍
Eleanor McConnell
Frostburg State University
‍
Jennifer McCoy
Georgia State University
‍
Jason McDaniel
San Francisco State University
‍
Bonnie M. Meguid
University of Rochester
‍
Walter Mignolo
Duke University
‍
Terry Moe
Stanford University
‍
Ralph Morelli
‍
C. Daniel Myers
University of Minnesota
‍
Carol Nechemias
Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg
‍
David Niven
University of Cincinnati
‍
William Nomikos
Washington University in St. Louis
‍
Brendan Nyhan
Dartmouth College
‍
Stan Oklobdzija
University of California, Riverside
‍
Peter Onuf
University of Virginia
‍
Annelise Orleck
Dartmouth College
‍
Benjamin I. Page
Northwestern University
‍
Richard Parker
Harvard University
‍
Josh Pasek
University of Michigan
‍
Thomas Pepinsky
Cornell University
‍
Isabel Perera
Cornell University
‍
Rick Perlstein
‍
Benjamin Peterson
Alma College
‍
David Peterson
Iowa State University
‍
Minh-Thu Pham
Princeton University
‍
Dirk Philipsen
Duke University
‍
Brian Pollins
The Ohio State University
‍
Ethan Porter
George Washington University
‍
Charles Postel
San Francisco State University
‍
Lawrence N. Powell
‍
John Quist
Shippensburg University
‍
Ben Railton
Fitchburg State University
‍
Miles Rapoport
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
‍
Daniel Richter
University of Pennsylvania
‍
Kenneth Roberts
Cornell University
‍
Bert A. Rockman
Purdue University
‍
Joel Rogers
University of Wisconsin-Madison
‍
Deondra Rose
Duke University
‍
Anne Sarah Rubin
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
‍
Vicki Ruiz
University of California, Irvine
‍
Larry Sabato
University of Virginia
‍
Anoop Sarbahi
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
‍
Martha Saxton
Amherst College
‍
Ethan Scheiner
University of California, Davis
‍
Stephen Schlesinger
‍
Vivien Schmidt
Boston University
‍
Philippe Schmitter
European University Institute
‍
Sanford Schram
Hunter College and the Graduate Center CUNY
‍
Robert Shapiro
Columbia University
‍
Matthew Shugart
University of California, Davis
‍
Peter Siavelis
Wake Forest University
‍
Dan Slater
University of Michigan
‍
Jason Scott Smith
University of New Mexico
‍
Steven Smith
Washington University
‍
Rogers Smith
University of Pennsylvania
‍
Shannon Smith
College of St. Benedict/St. John's University
‍
Joe Soss
University of Minnesota
‍
Thomas Spragens
Duke University
‍
Leonard Steinhorn
American University
‍
Susan Stokes
University of Chicago
‍
Jennie Sweet-Cushman
Chatham University
‍
Rein Taagepera
University of California, Irvine
‍
Paul Taillon
University of Auckland
‍
Bob Pepperman Taylor
University of Vermont
‍
Steven Taylor
Troy University
‍
Alexander Theodoridis
University of Massachusetts Amherst
‍
Susan Thorne
Duke University
‍
Chloe Thurston
Northwestern University
‍
James Traub
New York University
‍
Chuck Tryon
Fayetteville State University
‍
Mustafa Tuna
Duke University
‍
Antonio Ugues Jr.
St. Mary's College of Maryland
‍
Jennifer Victor
George Mason University
‍
Penny Von Eschen
University of Virginia
‍
Barbara F Walter
University of California, San Diego
‍
Elizabeth Wemlinger
Salem College
‍
Tisa Wenger
Yale University
‍
Robb Willer
Stanford University
‍
Garry Wills
Northwestern University
‍
Amanda Wintersieck
Virginia Commonwealth University
‍
Daniel Wirls
University of California, Santa Cruz
‍
Christopher Witko
The Pennsylvania State University
‍
Alex Zakaras
University of Vermont
‍
Michael Zuckerman
University of Pennsylvania

*Institutions and titles are listed for identification purposes only.