Democratic state Senate candidate Kate Barr in North Carolina is running a campaign she knows she cannot win due to gerrymandered districts. Gerrymandering, a practice of drawing electoral boundaries to favor a specific party, has caused Barr’s district to heavily favor Republicans despite an even split in party registration. Similarly, in Illinois, Republican Congressman Rodney Davis was drawn out of a competitive district by the Democratic-controlled legislature after the 2020 census. The manipulation of district lines can also lead to political extremism as bipartisanship suffers.
Despite the challenges posed by gerrymandering, some states like California, Missouri, Arizona, and Colorado use citizen commissions to draw district lines instead of politicians. In Ohio, voters will decide in November whether to create their own citizen commission to counter partisan power grabs in drawing districts. The disproportionate influence of politicians in drawing district lines is seen as a threat to democracy by experts like Professor Sam Wang, who give failing grades to states like North Carolina and Illinois for the fairness of their maps.
Kate Barr, despite running in an unwinnable district, sees every vote she receives as a protest against the unfair gerrymandering practices in North Carolina, expressing the sentiment that voters deserve more equitable representation. The fight against gerrymandering continues as politicians and citizens alike seek to reform the system to ensure fair representation for all voters.
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