The independent Michigan redistricting commission that was supposed to protect Democrats from Republican gerrymandering is poised to leave them worse off than if the state’s partisan politicians were redrawing congressional district boundaries the old-fashioned way.

At least four incumbent House Democrats with districts rooted in Detroit and its surrounding suburbs could see their 2022 reelection bids threatened by the map of reapportioned congressional and state legislative seats due Nov. 1 from the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Ironically, Democrats might have more easily avoided the potential for such a disastrous outcome had the decennial redistricting process been left in the hands of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature.