Monday, December 20, 2021

You Can't Win Races Without Candidates

 

Before the courts stepped in, candidate filing for 2022 in North Carolina went on for two-and-one-half days, beginning at noon on Monday, December 6, and ending at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 8, by court order. There was a rush to file among Republicans. There was a rush not to file among Democrats.

Filing won't crank up again until after the trial on the merits of lawsuits filed against the Republican redistricting, followed probably by appeals to the NC Supreme Court. After that, who knows? Maybe different districts. Maybe a higher interest among Democrats.

If the current lack of Democratic enthusiasm/bravery doesn't turn around ... I don't want to finish that sentence. But the numbers below represent above all else the deleterious effects of extreme partisan gerrymandering.

NC House

Out of a total of 120 seats, Republicans are running in 64 of them without a Democratic opponent (so far)

Democrats have filed in some 17 seats with no Republican opponent (so far)

NC Senate

Out of a total of 50 seats, Republicans have filed for 31 of them with no Democratic opponent (so far)

Democrats have filed in only 3 seats with no Republican opponent (so far) 


at

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:41 AM

    I wonder if this reflects more of a Democratic feeling that there's no use in filing to run until the districts are settled versus a Republican 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead' attitude about the gerrymandered districts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:12 AM

    My thinking, too. And no push on the state-wide level to recruit candidates because the guys at the top knew there'd be a lawsuit and unsettled districts while the GOP hoped for no challenges to their maps.

    On top of that, there's apparently been a back-channel push by the organizers of the January 6th coup attempt to recruit candidates for local elections all across the country, which explains several things.

    ReplyDelete