National Dem Group Targeting Flip of NC Legislature

RALEIGH – While the presidential and gubernatorial races will understandably get most of the attention in 2020, it’d be a mistake to ignore the threat to Republican legislative control in the North Carolina General Assembly. Fueled by their success in breaking the Republican super-majority in 2018, cleaning house in urban/suburban districts around Wake and Mecklenburg counties, Democrats are rearing back again to try and take the half dozen or so seats it would take to give them a majority. A group called Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) has put North Carolina on its short list of ripe targets to turn blue.

From Spectrum News:

“[…] “Having control of one chamber in the legislature — whether it’s the Senate, which is also winnable, or the House — it’s a must do for 2020,” [Jessica Post, President of the DLCC] said. “It’s an absolute imperative.”

But why? Next year is a census year, meaning the General Assembly will get to draw new congressional and legislative district lines.

Post says she wants to guarantee that Democrats, not just Republicans, will have a seat at the table for those redistricting conversations. Controlling a legislative chamber gives Democrats that chance. […]

“We want to make sure that the lines are fairly drawn,” Post said. “About half of that congressional delegation should be Democrats, about half of them should be Republicans. That’s not the case right now. That map is gerrymandered beyond belief.” […]”

There’s that stubborn talking point, again, that Democrats should have more seats based on the statewide vote totals. That’s the same point the Supreme Court of the United States made in its ruling said showed a clear misunderstanding of the American electoral system and how it works. The Left wants to flood the zone and get enough seats, not so they can have their ‘seat at the table’ to make maps, but so they can tilt the table and the lines in their favor as much as possible. Democrats want the same political influence legislatively, over redistricting that they have been attacking Republicans for this entire time.

The DLCC aims to spend about $50 million over the 2020 election cycle across approximately a dozen states, according to Post, North Carolina among them. Of late, the Republicans have not been effective at holding off the Democrats electoral attacks. Losing the governor’s mansion, giving up several key judicial races, and shedding the super-majority in the General Assembly is the recent trend that groups like the DLCC want to capitalize on, despite the inevitable bump from Trump topping the ticket. Mind you, Roy Cooper won the same night President Trump did in 2016. Trump could conceivably win North Carolina in 2020 only to have the majority in one chamber slip away from Republicans.

To push back effectively and reverse recent fortunes, Republicans have to reignite the spark that got them in the majority to begin with. That’s small, limited government with low taxes and high regard for individual rights. The tax and regulatory reform pushes earlier in this majority’s history have been successful, but the focus on shrinking government’s footprint seem to wane as powers became settled. It was during the sense of comfort that Democrats took away Republicans’ veto immunity.

There are no shortage of issues to tackle boldly with conservative solutions that can close the door on Democrats’ majority hopes in the North Carolina General Assembly. Where is that re-ignition going to come from and what will it focus on? Because the national Democrats are focused on us.

Read more about their targeting effort here.