ReviewsDaley's book provides a blow-by-blow account of how this happened. He draws on investigative reports, interviews and court documents to give readers an eye-opening tour of a process that many Americans never see….What Daley makes clear is that ruthless partisan gerrymandering is not good for democracy and makes it that much more difficult to wrestle control of the House away from the GOP. Democrats should read this book. -- Julian E. Zelizer (Washington Post) Extraordinarily timely and undeniably important. -- Alex Wagner (New York Times Book Review) Compelling. -- Elizabeth Kolbert (The New Yorker) The way dark money was translated into congressional majorities is one of the great, sinister stories of our time. But in David Daley the shadow figures have finally met their match. -- Thomas Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas
SynopsisLauded as a "compelling" ( The New Yorker ) and "eye-opening tour of a process that many Americans never see" ( Washington Post ), David Daley's Ratf**ked documents the effort of Republican legislators and political operatives to hack American democracy through an audacious redistricting plan called REDMAP. Since the revolutionary election of Barack Obama, a group of GOP strategists has devised a way to flood state races with a gold rush of dark money, made possible by Citizens United, in order to completely reshape Congress--and our democracy itself. "Sobering and convincing" ( New York Review of Books ), Ratf**ked shows how this program has radically altered America's electoral map and created a firewall in the House, insulating the Republican party and its wealthy donors from popular democracy. While exhausted voters recover from a grueling presidential election, a new Afterword from the author explores the latest intense efforts by both parties, who are already preparing for the next redistricting cycle in 2020., David Daley's "extraordinarily timely" ( New York Times Book Review ) account uncovers the fundamental rigging of our House of Representatives and state legislatures nationwide. Lauded as a "compelling" ( The New Yorker ) and "eye-opening tour of a process that many Americans never see" ( Washington Post ), David Daley's Ratf**ked documents the effort of Republican legislators and political operatives to hack American democracy through an audacious redistricting plan called REDMAP. Since the revolutionary election of Barack Obama, a group of GOP strategists has devised a way to flood state races with a gold rush of dark money, made possible by Citizens United, in order to completely reshape Congress--and our democracy itself. "Sobering and convincing" ( New York Review of Books ), Ratf**ked shows how this program has radically altered America's electoral map and created a firewall in the House, insulating the Republican party and its wealthy donors from popular democracy. While exhausted voters recover from a grueling presidential election, a new Afterword from the author explores the latest intense efforts by both parties, who are already preparing for the next redistricting cycle in 2020., David Daley's "extraordinarily timely" (New York Times Book Review) account uncovers the fundamental rigging of our House of Representatives and state legislatures nationwide.