North Carolina Congressional Map Looks Better-- But Republicans Are Still Cheating

North Carolina leans a little Republican. The state's shifting PVI is currently R+3 but that doesn't tell the whole story. As of November 9 of this year this is how voters were registered:

• Democrats- 2,492,008
• Unaffiliated- 2,209,405
• Republicans- 2,032,934
• Libertarian- 38,870

Recent presidential election results have been incredibly close: Obama beat McCain 2,142,651 (49.70%) to 2,128,474 (49.38%). Four years later, Romney beat Obama 2,270,395 (50.39%) to 2,178,391 (48.35%). And last year the Democrats' status quo candidate, in a year voters were looking for change, was defeated 2,362,631 (49.83%) to 2,189,316 (46.17%).

Meanwhile in the last gubernatorial election (2016) Democrat Roy Cooper beat incumbent Republican Pat McCory 2,309,157 (49.01%) to 2,298,880 (48.80%). Last year the state House of Representatives elected 65 Republicans and 55 Democrats, a net increase of 9 for the Democrats, although the big news was that 1,866,432 voters (50.54%) chose a Democrat and 1,779,584 (48.18%) voted for a Republican. That's what a partisan gerrymander looks like. All 50 seats in the state Senate were also up for grabs and the Democrats managed to win a net of 6 seats, breaking the GOP super-majority, although with the GOP still in control, 29-21.

Let's call it a 50/50 state. But when Republicans took over the governor's mansion and state legislature in 2010, they took the opportunity to gerrymander everything-- and extremely so. In September a state court invalidated the legislative districts and in October the same court finally put its foot down on the congressional districts. Congressional maps had been drawn to give the Republicans 10 seats and the Democrats just 3. That's a little extreme in a 50/50 state. In fact, the Republican scumbag in charge of redistricting, David Lewis, is not in prison, but his map is in the trash can admitted, after he admitted that "I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats, so I drew this map to help foster what I think is better for the country."

On Friday, the state legislature approved a fairer map which is likely to give North Carolina 6 Republican seats and 5 Democratic seats. The court still has to study the proposal and make sure it passes constitutional muster. Democrats in the legislature opposed the plan, because, though, better, it's still a partisan gerrymander. They criticized that lack of swing districts. Under this new plan, two right-wing nuts, George Holding and Mark Walker would almost definitely lose their seats, as the 2nd and 6th districts become safely blue.

George Holding has already checked out

Brian Murphy, reporting for the News&Observer yesterday afternoon, wrote that "Minutes after the vote, the plaintiffs in the case said they would challenge the map, calling it another extreme partisan gerrymander."

Democrat Kathy Manning, who lost to U.S. Rep. Ted Budd in 2018, said she is considering running in the new-look 6th District, which includes Greensboro, High Point and part of Winston-Salem.

“This is really exciting for North Carolina. We have really struggled with these gerrymandered maps,” Manning said. “I think this moves us in the right direction. I’m not convinced it gets us to where we need to be.”

The districts currently represented by Democrats-- Butterfield, David Price and Alma Adams-- remain largely unchanged and safe seats. In the map, no current representatives are “double bunked,” or assigned to the same district based on their home addresses.

The map splits 12 of the state’s 100 counties, and no county is in more than two congressional districts, Republican Sen. Ralph Hise told a Senate committee earlier Friday, satisfying the criteria that the redistricting committee had put into place.

“These maps get us into a good place,” Hise said, noting the opening of filing on Dec. 2.

The Senate debate lasted more than an hour with Republican Sen. Jerry Tillman complaining that Republicans were having to redraw the districts in the first place.

“For 140 years, you all drew the maps,” he said toward Democrats. “You drew them for 140 years, we sat there and didn’t like it, but we took it... We’re doing exactly what you all did for 140 years and it was constitutionally OK.”
He said the state constitution was clear that it was up to the political party in power to draw the maps.
“It doesn’t say one thing about splitting a county, a precinct,” he said. “It doesn’t say a thing about being fair.”
...“A map forced through by the majority party on a partisan vote does not instill confidence in the fairness of the new districts. We believe the congressional districts passed by the legislature today remain a partisan gerrymander,” said Bob Phillips, the executive director of Common Cause NC.

If a new map is not in place by Dec. 2, the congressional primaries scheduled for March could be postponed. In 2016, North Carolina held a separate primary for Congress. Turnout in that June election was 7.73%, down from 35.69% in the original primary, which was held in March and included the presidential, senatorial and gubernatorial primaries.

The maps will only be used in 2020 as they will have to be redrawn for the 2022 election using new Census data. That process should start in March 2021.

“This map is a one-time deal,” said Sen. Dan Blue, a Democrat. “Even though people are upset about it, it’s going to be corrected 15-16 months from now.”

North Carolina voters have elected representatives under different maps in 2010, 2012, 2016 and now, likely, 2020. The 2012 maps were ruled an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

“Eric Holder and (former President) Barack Obama have raised a lot of money for this outcome, and they’ve pursued a really aggressive legal strategy for their partisan outcomes, and right now they’re calling it partisan gerrymandering, but what they’re seeking is partisan gerrymandering for the left,” Rep. Patrick McHenry, a Republican from Denver, said Thursday.

“We basically have a Wild West of redistricting. This will be the fourth map in six cycles, and I think that is so confusing for voters and has a major negative impact on voters.”