So much for that fantasy. The marionette strings were only transferred from Scalia to Roberts.
This may work out. Remember that the more gerrymandered you make the districts, the more vulnerable you are if the tide turns against your party. Well, the tide does appear to be turning strongly, doesn’t it? This November might see those numbers reversed.
Yes, like you I’d rather see democracy triumph, but if it can’t, then some getting even and comeuppance will do in the meanwhile.
Yeah, I’ve definitely had the same thought, and how sweet the comeuppance would be. However, I live in a heavily gerrymandered district that used to be part of a Democratic district represented by a moderate-to-conservative Democrat; now, I’m in Mark goddamn Meadows’s district, and he won his last election by 28 points.
There’s no question that Republicans gerrymandered this district far more than Democrats had: it used to be that the entire city of Asheville was in the district I was in. Now, not only am I part of a sliver of Asheville in Meadows’s district, but they even drew lines right down the middle of Warren Wilson College’s campus, such that students living in neighboring dorms were placed in different districts. Our district made national news with the Gerrymander 5K race held by the League of Women Voters to draw attention to its absurdity.
The only real chance that I’ll get in a Democratic district is if the court rules on this bullshit gerrymandering, or if I move.
Please don’t move - the only way to change things is if progressives move *into *conservative districts and vote the jerks out. Adding one more vote to a D+5 (or whatever) district does no good at all for the country.
With recent results in mind, 28 points isn’t impossible. Granted, I’ve never heard of Mark Meadows (holy shit, he’s a furriner!), but it seems he’s done everything he can to hitch himself to Trump’s wagon. A GOOD moderate Democrat with the right strategy could make it close.
It would be easier if they got rid of the bullshit, but dem’s da breaks, for now.
Dude, Mark Meadows isn’t a foreigner: he was born to two American citizens on a US Army Base in France. Nice try, though! 
And maybe you haven’t heard of him, but have you heard of the “Freedom Caucus”? He’s one of the biggest blowhards in that group, and is clearly very ambitious. He’s awful.
Edit: Oh, and I ain’t moving, Folacin, for many reasons–but I welcome you to come on down and join the fight with us, if you’re not already here!
When I was in college, the campus (Villanova) was split between five different state districts, because they didn’t want on-campus and near-campus students to form a voting bloc. And there certainly are some issues we would have voted as a bloc on, like the zoning laws that made it impossible to legally house the entire student body.
All I saw on his Wikipedia page was that he was born in France. I didn’t really look into his history, positions, or other stuff. I DID note he is the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, so I view him as a insert politically motivated insult here, but beyond that…eh. Keep fighting the good fight, though!
Woah.
I’m skeptical that we’ll actually get the new districts in time, but we really really should. I don’t give a wet far that it means we’d only have an election season comparable to that in nearly every other democracy, instead of the 18-month monstrosity we have now; if we get to vote in districts that result in a fair representation of our citizenry, it’s worth whatever inconvenience is causes to career politicians.
Strike three, fellas! Think you can get it right this time? Better work fast …
Interesting point–with the Supreme Court down one vote, it’ll be hard to get them to hear an appeal.
My prediction: McConnell just rams Kavanaugh the fuck through, in time to hear and grant the NCLeg’s appeal, and we’re back to districts that everyone agrees are extremely gerrymandered for blatant partisan purposes, i.e., to disenfranchise as many Democrats as they can.
Well holding new primary elections on Election Day (Nov 6th) itself and then holding a special election in December is an interesting option. Any change this could backfire horribly and North Carolina could somehow default to electing it’s House delegation at-large?
It would seem that secular atheist Democrats never heard of the Miracle of Loaves and Fishes.
You mean like everyone could choose 13 candidates, and the top 13 would win, thus enabling Republicans to take all 13 slots?
That’s nearly impossible. The state constitution says (I’m quoting a different doc that quotes the constitution, btw):
So I don’t think they can do away with districts without a constitutional amendment, which would need to appear on–you guessed it!–the November 6 ballot.
Plus, it would be contrary to federal law, which requires single-member districts.
Dang, I just met the Dem nominee in my district. Shame if she put all that effort into her campaign against a fundamentalist white dude and got moved to compete against a different fundamentalist white dude.
I didn’t believe you at first, but you’re absolutely right (link for any other unnecessarily skeptical folks out there).
I haven’t looked to see the genesis of this, but I would expect that federal voting-rights cases would disfavor multiple-member districts, as being diluting of minority votes.
I didn’t read the new decision yet. How did they solve the standing issue that got it sent back to them in the first place?
None of the articles I read answered that, IIRC. I’d also be interested to hear that–and to hear explained, in layman’s terms, what the standing issue exactly was in the first place.
It seems to me that any citizen of North Carolina should have standing.