Quite Sincerely,
'Pod
Of course he is. Protecting black Democrats will only increase the odds of Republicans winning surrounding districts through “bleaching” of the electorate.
MD is 29.4% black and around 57% Democrat. Assuming blacks are 28% of the electorate and vote 90% Democrat (which, if anything, understates the black turnout and propensity to vote Dem in MD), that means that non-blacks in MD (a group overwhelmingly composed of whites) vote 56% Republican and 44% Democrat. And since whites in southern Montgomery County and inner-city Baltimore are heavily Democrat, that means that whites outside those areas are over 60% Republican. So RATs need to make sure that districts are at least 25% Dem (at least 35% Dem in rural areas) if they want to win. And to draw districts that are 25%-35% black, they need to minimize the number of black-majority districts they draw, and minimize the black percentage even in the few black-majority districts that they countenance. That’s why MD blacks are getting the shaft from Democrats, and the same thing happens in just about every state the Dems control.