White Flight

Ron Brownstein writes for National Journal about the major source of GOP gains in Congress.

A majority of the GOP gains since then have come from the Democrats' near-total collapse in one set of districts: the largely blue-collar places in which the white share of the population exceeds the national average.

Republicans now hold an astounding 135-seat advantage (199-64) and fully 76 percent of the House seats in which whites exceed their share of the national population. In 2009, when Democrats last controlled the House majority, the two parties split such seats almost exactly in half, with Republicans holding 132 and Democrats 131.

The process by which the parties continue to move in the direction of becoming "tribal" parties, with the GOP representing whites and perhaps Asians while the Dems represent those nonwhites and whites who believe themselves to be victims, proceeds apace.