#ncga: Don’t like the way the table is set? Turn over the table.
What started out as a mission to tweak a few districts to bring the 1st and 12th congressional districts in line has resulted in radical change for a lot more voters and some political favors (as well as hits).
Legislators released new maps detailing their proposal for appeasing the federal judges who questioned the state’s congressional districts. (Click Here to compare with the current district layout.)
A few interesting observations about the new districts:
- District 12, now represented by Greensboro’s Alma Adams (D), is now entirely contained within Mecklenburg County.
- District 2, now represented by Renee Ellmers, has been drastically changed to include territory more akin to the district she ran in against Bob Etheridge in 2010. She give
s up Moore, Lee, Chatham, and Randolph counties while picking up most of Wake, some of Johnston, some of Wilson, and Nash and Franklin counties. Chatham County Republican Jim Duncan, now seen as the biggest threat to unseating Ellmers, has been moved to District 6 which is currently represented by Republican Mark Walker of Greensboro. (The law simply says you have to reside in the state you run for the House in. Walter Jones won his first race for the 3rd district while living in the Democrat-majority 1st.) - District 8, represented by Republican Richard Hudson of Cabarrus County, now stretches from Salisbury to the Fayetteville area. It now includes Moore County, Hoke County, and a piece of Cumberland that had been in D-2.
- District 9, represented by Republican Robert Pittenger, has been
changed BIG TIME. Having been primarily focused on Mecklenburg County and Charlotte, it now stretches from a small sliver of Mecklenburg County along US 74 and the South Carolina border to include Democrat territories like Robeson, Richmond, Scotland and Bladen Counties.
Governor Pat McCrory has officially called the legislature back into session for TOMORROW. The honorables will be charged with getting the maps right, voting on them, and sending them along to be blessed by the judges.
Some of the points the new maps advocates will throw out there? :
- This map splits fewer counties (13) and precincts (13) than any map since 1990.
- The current map, now being revised, splits 32 counties and 68 precincts.
This certainly can open up a Pandora’s Box as far as what to do with all of those absentee ballots that have been cast in the current districts for the March primary.
This looks a lot like establishment scoundrel David Lewis, who was co-chairman of this committee trying to protect fellow Harnett County resident and establishment scoundrel Renee Ellmers from a primary challenge. I cannot determine if it also protects establishment scoundrel David Rouzer from his conservative challenge.
This stinks, and if it goes through, then any establishment politicians who support it should be voted against in the general election as well as the primary. That includes McCrory if he signs it, as McCrory has a massive conflict of interest as his son is working for Renegade Renee.
I don’t think the maps require McCrory’s signature.
You’d think the NCGOP Vice-Chair would know that redistricting bills don’t require the governor’s signature.
Who knows, I might run for that office some day, but your wild guess as to who I am is way off the mark.
The more one looks at this map, the more questions it raises.
1) Does Walker live in the new 6th or new 13th? Which will he run in? One of these districts will be GOP oriented and without an incumbent. What legislator was this district structured for?
2) It looks like Ellmers and Holding are double bunked. Which one were they really trying to screw?
3) Is Otto still in the 7th or did they do Rouzer a favor?
Holding is double bunked with Price. As for Ellmers she got Franklin County from the old (pre-2010) 2nd district and those folks despise her.
Holding could run in what would be the 2nd district but is current the 13th. He has represented most of the area for longer than Renee. Holding could give Renee a good run for her money.
Also, they didn’t do her any favors in the General election, way more Democrats in her new district.
Looks like Otto would reside in District 2. I will be moving as well, and I was so looking forward to voting for Otto rather than Rouzer. But at least I will get to vote for Duncan over Barbie.
the real question is how this will effect Central Committee members of the NC GOP ?
the downside of all of most of Mecklenburg being the 12th could be the more close alignment of the county leadership with the new district leadership saying the the county leadership would also end up controlling and dictating the district leadership
The southern suburbs and a good bit of the “wedge” are still in the 9th. North Mecklenburg, land of the toll road, should be the new Republican heart of a solid blue district.
From reading the plan of organization. It looks like all of the “vacancies”, officers and state executive committee in the old 12th that don’t reside in the new 12th, would have to be elected at the next district convention. Chairman Rufty would still be in the 12th though.
Northern Mecklenburg is a hotbed of anti-toll sentiment from the lake towns. The new 12th won’t necessarily line up neatly with the MeckGOP, which is largely comprised of volunteers and businesspeople from south Charlotte.
I would think we’d need new district chair elections at the upcoming conventions. Perhaps we need new state leadership too, but that’s just wishful thinking based on their inept leadership so far…
A lot of district chairs sure got bounced out of their districts.
That’s a good thing and those who didn’t still need a vote of approval from their new constitutes. It’s going to be interesting…
Yes, and a couple got double-bunked. George Holding better hope the Supremes issue a stay….if I’m reading the demo report on the new NC-04 (which in some ways, doesn’t look so different from the old NC-04) correctly, Holding’s congressional career is over.
Why would Holding run in the 4th when he could run in the 2nd?
I would imagine Holding would move to the new 12th or at least file there, as he does not technically have to live there.
With a choice of two GOP-leaning districts, though, it will be more interesting what Walker will do, and which of those two districts his residence is in. Also where his primary opponent ended up.
Without those maps in front of me, I got the district numbers wrong. It is the new 2nd I would expect Holding to move into or file in.
I’m going to assume their primary concern was judicial scrutiny and how the new maps affect the congresscritters. But this will open up the possibility of unexpected outcomes in the party elections.
When districts are re-formed, the new chair is likely to come from the largest county delegation within the new district, as these internal party elections largely rest on who-knows-who.
“This map splits fewer counties (13) and precincts (13) than any map since 1990.”
But there’s still that weird arrowhead intrusion into Buncombe County, connected to District 10 by a six-mile wide corridor. What’s the purpose? To yank Asheville, the largest population center in WNC, out of the mountains and into a district they have no connection with.
So much for respecting terrain, political boundaries, communities of interest, etc.
And “contiguity”?
“A district is contiguous if you can travel from any point in the district to any other point in the district without crossing the district’s boundary.”
Oops. See any roads here connecting Asheville to the rest of District 10?
bit.ly/1U9ddDk
I guess if you define “travel” as flying in a plane or strapping on a pack and hiking through 10 miles of wilderness (and yes, that Buncombe County boundary is essentially a cliff that separates the mountains from the lowlands), this passes the test.
Barry, Barry, Barry… you must be new to NC. Or at least haven’t been following NC politics for the past 10 years.
Asheville is in McHenry’s district to balance the population of Foxx “taking” Hickory off his hands.
Go to Google (www.google.com) and read about McHenry, his runoff election with a certain former Catawba County Sheriff and see if you can figure things out.
It’s not a conspiracy against Asheville.
Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. I never said I thought there was a conspiracy against Asheville. The effect of yanking Asheville out of the mountains was to make the 11th a safe GOP district. The fact that we go unrepresented in Congress is merely gravy.
You people gripe about how the GOP reps you elect at the various levels ignore their responsibility to you, and instead play party politics. It’s because you sat by while they drew safe districts for themselves, so that most of them never have to worry you’ll turn on them. That’s the double-edged sword of gerrymandering. Sure, you get more people on “your” side elected – but they are further from accountability, and incumbency grants them more perks than being true to you.
Speaking of the 11th, Mark Meadows sits on the House Aviation Subcommittee, which is about to hear the 2016 FAA Act. It extends the drone testing program being conducted by the DoD under FAA auspices, and it will result in the Feds having the ability to fly military surveillance drones over the entire domestic United States, (like the advanced Predator fleet that’s going in at Mackall Army Airfield, 10 miles from Pinehurst, as we speak.
A GOP rep who had both rowdy anti-drone liberals and rowdy anti-drone Tea Partiers in his district might think twice. But that’s not the reality, is it?
Remember, the Assembly changed the date of the primary with HB 343. If they had not changed that date, the maps would not be an issue in this election. The state was forced by the RNC to change the date.
The RNC is arriving in NC today to make sure that the final stage is set. Remember the special “separate affiliated party committees” that were passed in September? This new map decimates the entire party base, overturns district volunteer alliances, and resets the entire party system. IF the new maps are adopted it will complete the process. The real objective is to control the state from the national level.
My question to all of us that volunteer as precinct chairs, district leaders, door knockers, phone bank callers, poll watchers, donors – Are you going to let this stand? Are you going to fight? Are we going to hold our elected leaders accountable? Wake up, the fix is in. We need to unite and take control of our party immediately or loose it for the next 150 years. Don’t forget Ben Franklin’s words: “A Republic… if you can keep it.”
Did you know these maps were available more than four days ago? Yep, thats right, and they were shared with folks in Washington.
Think it’s just a coincidence that the date of the adoption of the maps will be deadline for registration to vote in the primary? That’s right, you can’t change your party or registration after Friday.
Wake up. You are being played. You either fight like hell for the next 48 hours or you loose your voice to national special interests. Are you ready to do something about it in stead of just typing angrily on your computers? Are you ready to make a difference? Are you ready to ignore the party’s self-imposed lines? Are you ready to fight for control of YOUR party? Then get off your ____, take the day off work, go to Raleigh and let your voice be heard for Gods sake! Are you angry yet?
Now I see why Jim Duncan got royally screwed. The national conservative groups got in behind Duncan, and were on the verge of taking Ellmers down. For the RNC thugs, it is as much about making sure that conservative forces in Club for Growth and Senate Conservatives Fund do not beat the establishment, as it was about trying to save Ellmers. They don’t care if Holding takes her down, but they are dead set about not letting Duncan with C4G and SCF help take her out.
We need to elect a National Committeeman and National Committeewoman who will stand up to the RNC mafia on things like this. And it is not just RNC. I am sure that the national ”affiliated committee”, the NRCC was in the thick of it, too.
Yep, I like the analogy, “Don’t like the way the table is set? . . . ” We will have a lot of sleepless nights in the weeks to come!
I find it hard to believe that anyone would think that those in power would cede power to their rivals. If you are in with the in crowd you would be pretty dumb to give your opponent an even chance.
Keeping your opponent down is the point of the game. Those giving a sucker an even break do not deserve to be in office.
The point of the game is to play the game with honesty and integrity and if anyone cannot do that then they are no better of than the pagan democrats that are trying turn America into their own pagan palace
“….honesty and integrity….”
That is a beautiful sentiment. I am trying to think of when I have ever come into contact with it in politics. I’ll keep thinking.
Ellmers needs one opponent. Egos will not let that happen.