Redistricting.
The Republican-dominated General Assembly last year shoved as many as they could of those 2.19 million Democratic voters into just three Congressional Districts (a scheme known as "packing") and distributed the remainder into gerrymandered districts where they could never muster a majority.
The Republican-dominated General Assembly last year shoved as many as they could of those 2.19 million Democratic voters into just three Congressional Districts (a scheme known as "packing") and distributed the remainder into gerrymandered districts where they could never muster a majority.
Rob Christensen in today's News&Observer:
The Republicans did not invent the fine art of gerrymandering, but they have taken it to a new level.
I am a perfect example. My Cary home sits in the district of U.S. Rep.-elect George Holding. But if I drive three blocks to leave my subdivision, I will enter the district of U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers. If I drive to most nearby shopping centers or go to the movies, I will be in the district of U.S. Rep. David Price.
Community of interest? Compact districts? Not so much.The state's redistricting will eventually be heard in the courts, all the way to the state's Supreme Court, but of course the Republicans, with lots of outside money, managed to reinstall their conservative justice Mr. Newby with the state's Supremes. The fix is already in.
And how is this any different from what the Democrats did for years?
ReplyDeleteCry me a river.
Of course Democrats did it, but Republicans take it to extremes, dividing cities and counties. This state is almost evenly divided - it should be a 7 - 6 split. When did the Democrats ever hold 9 ( or maybe 10) seats?
ReplyDeleteHow is what the Republicans did any different than what the Democrats did? There is no difference. Did you ever see Watts district?
ReplyDeleteAnd do two wrongs make a right?
ReplyDeleteAnd did the democrats flood a "non partisan" (my rear) race with outside funds to keep a repub friendly judge on the courts to insure those districts held up?
Which of course isn't judicial activism since it's a republican doing it!
Everyone does it is the excuse of a child, and it's high time both sides grew up and had an independent group draw the districts.
Either way it just goes to show the depths repubs took to cling to power. Again, great in the short term, but unless your party grows up and gets out of the bubble it's in. Well as the real election proved you can't buy or redistrict America.
Like I said, it's taken to the extreme by the Republicans, who have effectively "packed" as many Democrats as possible into 3 districts. It is ridiculous that there are 3 districts in the city of Cary, just like it's ridiculous that Winston-Salem isn't part of the same district as the rest of Forsyth County, and Asheville is carved out from the rest of Buncombe County. The "but they did it too" defense just shows that you can't support this based on its own merits. Oh, and by the way, Watt's district is ridiculous as well.
ReplyDeleteOh, Jesse, then you say it is perfectly OK for your side to be very partisan, but others cannot?
ReplyDeleteWhich independent group, Jesse?
'Seems the Dems have done and still are going to depths for the purpose of "clinging to power."
Jesse is right, it's downright childish to try to justify wrongdoing by saying "but they were doing it too..."
ReplyDeleteSeriously, let what JW posted here sink in: more North Carolinians voted for Democratic candidates in these races, and yet we ended up with a Republican supermajority. That should give anyone with half a brain and a sense of fairness some pause. It's not what our democracy is supposed to look like and it's wrong whoever is doing it.
Well for starters a group that doesn't split one city into three different voting areas. Or cut the city of asheville out. I mean anyone with half a brain can see why it was done.
ReplyDeleteHeck I'd simply create the districts along county lines and let the chips fall where they may. You could also do it by population if you think their would be too many major cities in one district (equal representation and all) or do it by simple square mileage divided by number of reps. So on and so forth, and plenty of ways to make in non political as well if that's your goal.
Of course then again we saw how well that worked with the not so super committee in DC, so i imagine there would be issues, but better then the gerrymandering bs both sides do now.
Maybe then message would mean something rather then the carving. That includes Watt's old district too.
Oh and maybe then we could also not have countless amounts of outside money flood a judge's race so they can rule on actual law and not how a political party wants them too? Just a thought.
@not really.
Good luck getting through the bubble, you can't. But honestly let them keep it the way it is if they want. While NC may have gone red the rest of the country (or as I call it now reality) showed that it's a long term path to failure and obscurity for what's left of the republican party if the teabaggers seize it.
I mean Romney won independents by +5 and still lost the election, not to mention the popular vote. The Young vote, the Black vote, the women's vote, the Hispanic vote, the Asian vote, the educated vote. The only thing he did win was evangelicals, WASPS, rural voters, and the elderly. Oh look and what does NC have plenty of?
No amount of redistricting (or ASU and Williamson bashing on HCP) will save them if the demographics stay the way it is.
Another hint for repubs reading this, a good way to get young people to vote for you? Try not attacking them as being brainwashed sheep by a liberal elite. Looking at you Mr. Dicola!
So let them think it's fine, and have a nice big Ryan sized election surprise when they get their clocks cleaned down the line.
If more voters had wanted Democrats, then we would have had Democrats elected.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the left wants to redistrict to make every race a state wide election. They would still lose.
"If more voters had wanted Democrats, then we would have had Democrats elected." It's already been pointed out that MORE people did vote for Democrats in House elections. You can't argue with facts! The reason more Democrats weren't elected is because more of them are packed into 3 districts where the Democrat annihilates the Republican opposition by a vote of something like 80 - 20, and then in other districts the Dems can only manage to get 40% of the vote. There was really only 1 competitive race this year - the one that McIntyre is trying to hold onto. This might backfire on the Republicans in a few years, though. Walter Jones district near Wilmington will trend Democratic if he ever decides to retire, and also Sue Myrick's old district around Charlotte will trend more Democratic in time.
ReplyDeleteSo what? Are you saying the Democrats did not do the same thing and will not do it again? Are you saying that Democrats are sheep that follow the party line and will vote for any Democrat, no matter who he is or what he stands for (i,e, Robert Byrd's support of the KKK) and did not vote for the three candidates in these districts on their merits?
ReplyDeleteYou might have a point on the last one?
I'm not saying any of those things. Wow, you really like to project onto people, don't you? I can do it too: do you think that Republicans in the 5th District voted for Madam Foxx just because she's a Republican? Of course they did! That's one reason to belong to a party - you support that party's candidates unless they do something illegal or so extreme that it even turns off the base. So far you haven't been able to make any argument other than "The Democrats do it too." Welcome to the Middle School Playground!
ReplyDeleteMost of them could care less that she is a Republican. They care that she is a conservative.
ReplyDeleteYou haven't been able to defend your allegations for the simple reason the Democrats do it to. What is the quote about dinning and then throwing rocks? I beleive you fail that test.
What allegations have I made? I don't have to defend anything. This extreme gerrymandering is wrong, no matter who does it. Is that clear enough for you?
ReplyDeleteThank you for admitting the Democrats are equally guilty and will continue to be.
ReplyDelete"Thank you for admitting the Democrats are equally guilty and will continue to be." There you go again! I never said that Dems were equally guilty. In fact, I don't believe that. After the 2000 election when NC gained a seat, the NC delegation was 7 - 6 Dem, and then it went to 8 - 5 before going back to 7 - 6. That is more representative of what this state should look like. Now, we are 9 - 4 Republican, which means that almost 70% of our representatives are Republican, when only around 50% of the population votes for Republicans. The same thing has happened in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Republicans are much worse this time around.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for the confusion. I thought you had enough integrity to make the admission. Your post seemed to indicate it. I was mistaken.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your condescending, holier-than-thou tone.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. Read the post again to see if you can understand what it says.
ReplyDeleteI understand quite well what I posted and what you posted as well. You don't have to insinuate that I'm stupid and can't comprehend what I'm reading. Fact remains, I did NOT say what you attributed to me. Let me ask YOU a question: are you supportive of the current districts that carved Asheville out of its district for no other reason than to screw Democrats?
ReplyDelete