Tentacles of North Carolina gerrymandering now extend to Washington

The Bottom Line from NC Newsline

(Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

Gerrymandering – the corrupt rigging of districts to elect candidates of certain parties – is a cancer afflicting modern American politics. And sadly, North Carolina is its poster child.

For years now, Republicans have gerrymandered their way to large legislative majorities in a state in which Democrats often receive more votes.

And now thanks to the latest rigging of U.S. House districts, North Carolina gerrymandering is impacting the entire nation.

You see, at last count, Republicans led the race for control of the U.S. House 218-212 with five seats still undecided. Those numbers, however, reflect the fact that Republican lawmakers recently gerrymandered our state’s House districts so that a 7-7 delegation became 10-4 Republican.

In other words, without the GOP’s blatant gerrymandering, the U.S. House would likely be tied at 215 and the vital question of who controls Congress would remain undecided.

The bottom line: Gerrymandering is an assault on representative and constitutional government. The politicians behind it dishonor their oaths of office.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.