I think I understand your point but actually the two statements are consistent.<p>Your phrase &quot;competitive as possible&quot; is wrong or at best very misleading.  If a district intended to be a &quot;bare win&quot; actually turns out to be competitive then the restricting process has gone wrong from the point of view of the controlling party.<p>The goal of gerrymandering, often achieved in practice, is to disenfranchise as many voters of the other parties as possible -- to ensure that their vote has no effect on the outcome of the election.  So the first statement you quote is accurate.<p>The second statement you quote just explains how this can be done.