First the bad news: North Carolina Republicans went on a gerrymandering orgy, redrawing the districts in such a way that a 50/50 state that currently has 7 Democrats and 7 Republicans in Congress, will now have 10 or 11 Republicans and 3 or 4 Democrats. It’s the most blatant current gerrymander anywhere in the country.
Jeff Jackson, Wiley Nickel, Kathy Manning and possibly Don Davis (a worthless Blue Dog who consistently votes against progressive positions) were all put into districts with Republican majorities. “Republicans,” reported the NY Times, “openly acknowledged the advantage they were drawing for themselves. ‘There’s no doubt that the congressional map that’s before you today has a lean towards Republicans,’ State Representative Destin Hall, the chairman of the redistricting committee, said on the floor, while adding that legislators had ‘complied with the law in every way.’” That will be up to the courts to decide, although the North Carolina Supreme Court is a bunchful of partisan hacks, so this is going to have to go to the Supreme Court… eventually. It's too much of a stretch to imaginbe this will bee ameliorated in time for the 2024 elections.
Kareem Crayton, the senior director for voting and representation at the Brennan Center for Justice, said the map was “among the most radical examples of gerrymandering that we’ve seen certainly this cycle.”
The new map and the events that led to it illustrate both the power of gerrymandering to render voters’ preferences electorally irrelevant, and the extent to which control of the House is being determined by courts’ interpretation of what lines are permissible.
…Crayton said lawyers would need more time to analyze the new North Carolina map and the drawing process to determine whether there were viable legal or constitutional arguments against it, given that the current North Carolina Supreme Court has shown it is not receptive to complaints against partisan gerrymandering.
State House Speaker Tim Moore helped draw the map so the district would be exactly what he would need to win. He’s expected to announce for the seat soon. Yesterday, the Charlotte Observer reported that Jeff Jackson has decided to forgo running in the red district the GOP drew for him and will instead run statewide, for Attorney General. He’ll be facing MAGA extremist Dan Bishop, one of the Gaetz-radicals who forced McCarthy out of the speakership. A Republican hasn’t been elected attorney general since the late 1800s.
OK, now for the good news. Zach Montellaro reported that yesterday, a federal court ruled that Georgia’s GOP-gerrymandered congressional map violates the Voting Rights Act, discriminating against Black voters. Judge Steve Jones, an Obama appointee ordered the legislature to redraw the map by early December. The Georgia Republicans will appeal.
Jones’ lengthy opinion said Black voters’ power had been diluted following extensive population growth in the state that has been disproportionately powered by Black residents. The remedy, he ordered, should involve the creation of “an additional majority-Black congressional district in west-metro Atlanta.”
He gave the GOP-controlled state legislature until Dec. 8 to enact a new map that complies with the Voting Rights Act by giving more power to Black voters there. If the state “is unable or unwilling to” do so, the court will draw the lines.
The state’s current delegation has 9 Republicans and 5 Democrats after the latest round of redistricting. That was a one-seat GOP gain from before the decennial redistricting process, in which Republican mapmakers effectively dismantled two rapidly diversifying suburban Atlanta seats to make one safe Democratic seat based in Gwinnett County and a deep-red district to its north.
Jones also ruled that the state House and state Senate map also violated the Voting Rights Act, saying they too must be redrawn.
The plaintiffs drew a map that would redraw GA-06, Rich McCormick’s district in a way that would make it a suburban majority-Black district (parts of Cobb, Douglas, Fayette and Fulton counties). Theway the district is currently draw Trump beat Biden by nearly 15 points and McCormick beat Democrat Bob Christian 206,886 (62.2%) to 125,612 (37.8%). It includes reddish areas of Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties all very red parts of Forsyth, Dawson and Cherokee counties.
And finally… Ohio, where early voting has been indicative of a blue tsunami for elections in 11 days that will determine that fate of abortion and marijuana policies in the state. Most observers expected the Reproductive Freedom amendment and the Marijuana Legalization Initiative to pass, especially because the Republicans’ attempts to sabotage the process failed in August when 57% of Ohio voters (1,769,482 to 1,329,052) turned back the Republicans’ attempt to require 60% of voters to pass a constitutional amendment (instead of a simple majority). The most current poll shows 58% of likely voters (89% of Democrats, 51% of independents and 39% of Republicans) will vote to protect abortion rights and 57% say they plan to vote yes on marijuana legalization (66% of Democrats, 59% of independents and 50% of Republicans).
Yesterday, Cleveland’s ABC News affiliate reported that voters in the big Democratic counties— Cuyahoga (Cleveland), Franklin (Columbus) and Hamilton (Cincinnati)— are turning out in record numbers, exceeding expectations. Cuyahoga County is about 10,000 early votes ahead of where they were for the August election, when they helped power a big defeat for the GOP attempt to undermine the abortion proposition.
Cuyahoga is up from 95,000 to 105,000— a 10% increase; Franklin is up from 28,000 to 58,000— a 107% increase, and Hamilton is up from 27,000 to 33,000— a 20% increase.
It's not just urban counties seeing an increase; suburban counties are, too. Medina County is up from 9,000 to about 11,000— a 22% increase. Lake is up from 10,000 to 13,500— a 35% increase.
But some Republican strongholds aren't seeing the same. Carroll County is down from 420 to 390— a 7% decrease; Holmes is down from 1,280 to 930— a 27% decrease.
Some rural Republican counties are also seeing increases but they have small populations.
a VERY interesting censorship choice. Can it be that you won't stand for facts that might tend to temper the enthusiasm of the dumber than shits?
I guess I can wait for the results of 2024 to vindicate what I write and wrote... and say I told ya so.