2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: The biggest issue with our country - GERRYMANDERING [View all]mnhtnbb
(31,386 posts)The state actually went for Obama in 2008--first time voted for Dem presidential
candidate since Jimmy Carter.
All the Dems stayed home in 2010 and the Repubs in the State legislature took over.
Gerrymandered districts.
In 2012 MORE NC voters voted for Dem Representatives, but because of the gerrymandering,
the House delegation which had been split 7 Dem 6 Repub, became 9 Repub 4 Dem--EVEN
THOUGH MORE people voted Dem in House Rep races.
North Carolina provides a striking example. The states congressional vote and delegation had usually split closely in the decade since 2002. In 2010, for example, the House delegation was 7 to 6 Democratic. After the 2011 gerrymandering however, the results no longer reflected the states fairly even partisan split. In 2012, the Democrats won more congressional votes than the Republicans, 50 percent to 48.9 percent, but the new gerrymandering gave the GOP a 9 to 4 congressional majority.
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2013/07/14/democrats-its-the-states-stupid/