On redistricting

Democrat Marcus Brandon (left) and Republican Lonnie Wilson, who are vying for the NC House District 60 seat, appeared together at a candidate forum in High Point.

Candidates for NC Senate District 28 and NC House District 60 raised some interesting perspectives on redistricting during a candidate forum hosted by the Delta Sigma Theta sorority at High Point city council chambers tonight. Redrawing state legislative and congressional district lines will be the spoils for what ever party wins control of the General Assembly in the next term.

Among the intriguing aspects is the possibility that North Carolina could pick up an additional congressional district, which some reason would logically fall in the Piedmont Triad.

As the discussion demonstrated tonight, there are a myriad of considerations when it comes to redistricting.

Gladys Robinson, Democratic candidate for NC Senate District 28: “All the time our state, our local and our federal government have not treated all citizens equally, and so we have required that we do some creative planning and some creative drawing of lines so we can have representation from all of our citizens. And that has been done in several districts in North Carolina and across the entire country, so that we can have representation that is diverse. That is the critical piece we have to look at, as we look at redistricting and as we look at redrawing district lines.”

Bruce Davis, independent candidate for NC House District 60: “From all that I’ve read and heard, that is a long shot, because we’re in competition with another state that has really got the numbers. But, with that being said, if we have the opportunity to have another congressional seat here in North Carolina, I am a strong voice in Raleigh to advocate very hard and aggressively to try to get this congressional seat to come through this area.”

Davis also said that although he is running as an independent, he is a Democrat and his decisions about redistricting would be shaped by his party affiliation.

Lonnie Wilson, Republican candidate for NC House District 60: “So far, I’m against all that’s been said regarding that. If we’re the other party, of course we try to reconstruct those lines in a somewhat more straighter line. Let it fall wherever a person lives, and not gerrymander a district to try to select one type of individual or race. And let freedom ring in our state and in our counties, wherever you live, and let’s be representative.”

Marcus Brandon, Democratic candidate for NC House District 60: “I want to make sure that we clarify when we talk about gerrymandering that gerrymandering is not only a practice that’s just for race. We have a lot of gerrymandered districts for parties, and I would like to see us have districts that are a little bit more equitable because when you talk about gerrymandering, my seat is like 65 percent Democrats, and you have some Republican seats that are just as Republican. That’s just as gerrymandered as anything else. I want to clarify: Gerrymandering, it’s not just a racial issue; it’s also a party thing that we also need to discuss when we talk about redistricting and having equitable representation. People are less accountable if they are only accountable to one party because of their seat.”