Gerrymandering is not new and is not news. It has been used by all political parties (not just both - Elbridge Gerry was neither a republican nor a democrat) almost from the time the country was founded. Anyone who tries to leverage a particular instance of gerrymandering to an advantage is counting on you to be stupid enough to fall for it.

The word gerrymander (originally written Gerry-mander) was used for the first time in the Boston Gazette on 26 March 1812. The word was created in reaction to a redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under Governor Elbridge Gerry. In 1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander. Gerry was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later was selected as the fifth Vice President of the United States (1813–14), serving under James Madison.