North Carolina legislators have approved new congressional maps that give Republicans a big advantage in elections for the U.S. House. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his "On My Mind" commentary, says there’s an easier — and fairer — way.
I’ve been trying to think of the right word to describe the Republican gerrymandering going on right now in North Carolina. I came up with quite a list of words, including several I can’t say on the radio. But here’s the one that fits best:
Gutless.
The North Carolina GOP is afraid of their own ideas, afraid of their own state’s voters, afraid of the democratic process itself. So like a spoiled child, they have changed the rules so that they win the game no matter what.
Here’s a quick look at the numbers. Based on its population, North Carolina has 14 seats in the U.S. House. There are about 2.4 million registered Democrats in this state, and about 2.2 million registered Republicans. Slight edge to the Democrats but basically a 50-50 split. So the natural outcome, over time, would be for each party to end up with seven of those 14 seats. And, in fact, that’s the way the delegation looks now — seven Democrats, seven Republicans. Although even that isn’t ideal, because the districts were drawn to protect seats on both sides instead of allowing for truly contested elections.
But the GOP’s new maps make 10 seats safe for Republicans, with just three Democratic seats and one that would be a toss-up. They have been able to muscle this plan through for two reasons. One, they have a majority in both houses of the state legislature. And two, there’s now a Republican majority on the state Supreme Court. So the refs are on their side, too.
One of the effects of this scheme is to end the congressional career of Charlotte’s Jeff Jackson, one of the country’s most promising young Democrats. His newly drawn district is just about impossible for a Democrat to win. So he’s leaving Congress to run for state attorney general.
Gerrymandering is not just a Republican thing. Democrats in North Carolina did similar finagling before 2010, when Republicans took control of the state legislature. Democrats in New York are attempting to do the same thing right now in that state’s redistricting. The cowardice is bipartisan. And the sad thing is, it would be so easy to do things differently.
Ten states, from Virginia to California, have redistricting commissions that draw up congressional maps. Those 10 states and five others have commissions that draw maps for state legislative districts. The commissions are created in various ways, and, of course, partisans complain about them, too. But an independent commission is much more likely to draw a fair map than whichever party happens to have the power.
What would it take for North Carolina to create such a commission? The main thing it would take is a party in power that believed in its own ideas enough to put them forth in contested elections. It would take a party that thought its candidates could win a fair fight. In short, it would take guts.
I don’t like our chances.
