In the News

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North Carolina has one true swing district — the 13th— held by Rep. Wiley Nickel, a Democrat from Cary. Democrats like Reps. Kathy Manning, of Greensboro, and Jeff Jackson, of Charlotte, are also in areas that can easily be drawn to give Republicans an advantage.

That could help Republicans maintain or widen their control of the U.S. House, where they now have a majority of just a handful of seats.

DEMOCRATS REACT TO REDISTRICTING RULING

North Carolina’s seven Democratic members of Congress released a joint statement calling Friday “a sad day for democracy” and saying the ruling “disenfranchises the people of our state.”

They promised to pursue legislation at the federal level, but they are in the minority in the U.S. House.

Reached by phone as he landed in North Carolina from Washington, Nickel called the ruling an attack on democracy and the right to free and fair elections.

“We had a fair map in the last election and they elected seven Democrats and seven Republicans, which is exactly what we should have in a 50-50 state,” Nickel said. “The bottom line with all this is that voters should choose their politicians, not the other way around, and I’m going to redouble my efforts to continue to fight for nonpartisan independent redistricting reform so we get fair maps and voters have a real choice.”

Anderson Clayton, the new elected chairwoman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, echoed Nickel on Friday evening. She told McClatchy that as she talked with people following the announcement, Republicans repeatedly told her that Democrats gerrymandered the state to their advantage first and this was just a page out of their own playbook.

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