Democrats got caught flat-footed in North Carolina ten years go. The 2010 mid-term elections were not simply disastrous for their candidates. REDMAP for Redistricting Majority Project handed control of North Carolina’s state legislature (and others) to Republicans in a census year. And thus, control of drawing the districts North Carolina’s voters would live with for the next decade. Advantage: Republicans.
What ensued was a decade of radical voter suppression legislation, endless litigation on that and district lines, a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the infamous “bathroom bill,” and multiple court-ordered redraws of federal and state districts. Among other things.
Ten years after, Republicans are back. It is a census year again. (They even tried and failed to gerrymander that.) This time they have rebranded their pre-gerrymandering program as Right Lines 2020.
“Socialism starts in the states. Let’s stop it there, too,” the website by the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) declares.
Shilpa Jindia writes at the Guardian that with its $125 million investment in down-ballot races, the group hopes to maintain control of 42 state legislative seats that are key to holding power in Congress and key battleground states:
In 2012, Democrats won 1.4m more votes than Republicans, yet Republicans maintained a 33-seat margin in the House. A 2019 USC study found that 59 million Americans now live under minority rule, where the party that receives the minority share of the vote in a state election controls the majority of seats in the subsequent state legislature. While both Democrats and Republicans gerrymander, Redmap changed the game.
Over half of the RSLC’s $17m contributions at the end of 2019 came from public companies and trade associations, according to an analysis by The Center for Political Accountability (CPA), which tracks corporate political spending. The largest single donor, however, was the conservative dark money group the Judicial Confirmation Network with $1.1m, the same group behind the nomination of conservative supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh.
That name alone ought to suggest what is on the line. The last decade has made that painfully clear not only inside the Beltway. And the cost to lock in minority rule? Far less than what it costs to win the presidency.
“Redistricting historically was something that occurred behind the scenes in smoke-filled rooms and the people didn’t pay attention,” said Michael Li, senior counsel at the Brennan Center. “Now it’s something that angers people.”
They might be even more angry to know corporate donors such as Citigroup, Chevron, Altria and Dominion Energy are aligning themselves with Black Lives Matter and “racial and social inequality” with one donation while advancing the RSLC’s efforts to preserve Republican minority rule with another.
‘This Is a War’
“Everybody understands this is a war that has real consequences and you’ve got one shot at it,” Li added. “It’s not like we can come back and do this two years like this; this is your moment, and if you’re going to influence what the maps look like, and who’s in power for the next decade.”
With Republicans already backing away from Donald Trump, the RSLC would just as soon let Democrats spend all their activism and money this year on the expensive presidential race while they prepare in the states for another ten-year legislative feast. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insists Democrats can walk and chew gum at the same time. Here is the Democrats’ chance —and yours — to prove it.
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For The Win, 3rd Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV mechanics guide at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.
Note: The pandemic will upend standard field tactics in 2020. If enough promising “improvisations” come my way, perhaps I can issue a COVID-19 supplement.