Here’s the reality: the congressional map we used to have, with a 7-7 Republican-Democratic split, reflected the true political makeup of our state. It was fair. It gave voters on both sides confidence that their voices mattered. But that wasn’t good enough for legislative Republicans in Raleigh. They threw fairness out the window, forcing through a mid-decade map that handed Republicans an unfair 10-4 advantage in the next Congress. That’s 71% of North Carolina’s seats in the U.S. House going to Republicans and those 10 bright red districts were not even close.
It doesn’t take a mathematician to see what’s wrong with that. And now, with Adam Gray’s apparent victory in California’s 13th District giving Republicans a bare three-seat majority in the U.S. House, it’s clear that gerrymandering in North Carolina tipped the scales in their favor and cost Democrats control of the US House of Representatives.
Representative Wiley Nickel
NC congressman: Republicans stole fairness from the nation in giving GOP a House majority (Raleigh News & Observer)
Scott Boehmer 