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Charlotte Talks: Gerrymander Ruling Kicks Off Election Season

Diedra Laird / The Charlotte Observer

Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018

It's already an election year, and Tuesday's gerrymandering ruling has already provided a jolt to North Carolina politics. Mike Collins and political experts look at the impact of the ruling, and the landscape heading into the mid-term elections.

Don't look now, but we're in another election year, and it's already off with a bang in North Carolina, where the state's congressional map has been struck down as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

Democrats, fresh off an upset win in deep-red Alabama, are hoping to ride a “blue wave” in this fall’s congressional mid-term elections.

On the other side of the aisle, Republicans' tax cut victory before Christmas has already been overshadowed by a tell-all book about the Trump administration, and a schism between the president and former adviser Steve Bannon.

In Raleigh, Democrats, including Gov. Roy Cooper, are hoping to chip away at the Republicans' veto-proof majority in the General Assembly.

Can Democrats win big? How much of a factor will President Trump play, both nationally and in local races?

GUESTS

Michael Bitzer, professor of political science and provost, Catawba College (@BowTiePolitics)

Dan McCorkle, Democratic strategist

Paul Shumaker, Republican strategist

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