State Lawmakers To Hold First Committee Meeting on Congressional Redistricting Following Judicial Decree

RALEIGH – They were so expeditious with the court ordered state legislative redraw, lawmakers could certainly handle redrawing congressional maps to help Democrats there too. At least, that was the partial reasoning of the state judicial panel that fast tracked Democrats’ sham partisan gerrymandering complaint and ordered the legislature to ‘fix it.’

Well, Tuesday will mark the official start of the congressional redistricting with a meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting Tuesday at 1:00 PM which will be open to the public.

Republican leaders led a concerted effort at transparency and timeliness when taking another stab at state maps in order to please the court, earning praise from both sides of the aisle for the process. They’re likely to repeat that performance here, having no interest in delaying 2020 primaries with protracted court battles over where the lines fall and whether or not it benefits Democrats enough for the court’s liking.

Of course, this means that the Democrats get rewarded for their litigiousness, no matter how frivolous, and Republicans cede ground electorally and in spite of their long held elected majorities in the state legislature.

The advantage of this conciliatory approach is that it gets done, with minimal damage and no chances for a court battle to encumber 2020 elections. Still, due to the nature of the complaintant and the complaint, combined with the nature of this particular judiciary, Republican incumbents will be necessarily weakened to satisfy the order. Just how much the ground will shift when it comes to North Carolina’s 13 congressional districts will be determined in the coming days.

You can listen to the meeting and debate here to see what may happen to your district.