Gerrymandered To Oblivion: Jeff Jackson Bows Out

 

Congressman Jeff Jackson, in his first term goddamnit, gets effectively annihilated for reelection by new redistricting maps for North Carolina's 14 US House districts, drawn in total secrecy and behind closed doors by a handful of powerful Republicans (Ralph Hise, Destin Hall, et al.) and sprung on everybody yesterday. Hise's committee in the Senate has actually proposed two different maps. One would pretty much guarantee an 11-3 Republican majority, the other one, a 10-4 split. (It's currently 7-7.) Which map you suppose they'll settle on next week?

But, here, let Jeff Jackson himself fill you in:

In both maps, my current district becomes an R+15 seat. That means the last Republican presidential candidate carried the seat by 15 points.

Just to be clear, it is completely impossible to win a seat that leans the other way by 15 points. Not even a remote chance.

I sent you an email two months ago giving you a heads up about this. Unfortunately, it went exactly the way we predicted.

Many of you will ask about the courts. Well, our state Supreme Court flipped in the last election and is now controlled by the same party as our state legislature, so the widespread expectation is there will be no relief there.

As for the federal courts, a few years ago the U.S. Supreme Court basically legalized political gerrymandering. However, certain forms of racial gerrymandering remain illegal. I’m sure there will be litigation on that front, but I don’t have a clear sense of timeline or likely outcome....

In effect, a farewell. With no word about next steps. He's too good at politics to leave politics -- the best communicator that North Carolina Democrats have anywhere right now -- and clearly with the Phil Berger Bunch in the General Assembly, and Paul Newby at the Supreme Court, state-wide is the only way for Democrats to win. Statewide office for Jeff Jackson sounds like a campaign I'd get involved with.