What’s Next: Undoing Operation Red Map
This is the first of a series of articles that will look at what Democrats need to do to take back the state in 2030. In it, Sondra Stein focuses on the critical need to elect a Democratic majority on the State Supreme Court.
Time was, North Carolina was a reliably blue state. In 2008, we even won the Presidency for the first time in 32 years, helping to elect Barack Obama. Unfortunately, that auspicious event was the beginning of the end because it spurred Republicans to launch Operation RedMap, a nationwide gerrymandering blitz designed to take back both state legislatures and the Congress in 2010 through aggressive redistricting.
That year alone, the Republican State Leadership Committee committed over $30 million to races, including $1.2 million in North Carolina. The result: for the first time in 100 years, Republicans controlled both houses of the General Assembly and took advantage of their majorities to redraw state and Congressional maps in their favor in 2011 when US Census results came in. The districts they created packed Democrats into a few districts, ensuring that most were majority Republican. The result: although 48% of us voted to elect Democrats, we were able to win only 36% of the seats. This allowed Republicans to set the legislative agenda: cutting taxes on the wealthy; starving public schools while expanding funding for opportunity scholarships for religious schools; refusing to raise the state minimum wage; and most notably, denying health care to over 600,000 low income North Carolinians by turning down Federal Medicaid Expansion dollars.
And because Republicans had created electoral districts where they couldn't lose, it was impossible for the voters who lived in those districts to vote them out. Gerrymandering ensured ongoing Republican control of the state legislature.
If your vote doesn't count, what can you do to change things? As Democrats, we turned to the judicial branch for help, and in February 2022, the NC State Supreme Court ruled that the Congressional Maps proposed by the Republican Majority in the Legislature were so egregious that they violated the state constitution. The Court — controlled by a 4-3 Democratic majority at the time--was empowered to create new maps that resulted in an equitable division of our Congressional representatives — 7 Democrats and 7 Republicans. But that didn't last long. As soon as the GOP was able to reclaim the majority on the State Supreme Court in the 2022 election, the Court allowed the Legislature to overturn the statistically fair maps approved by the earlier court decision.
The consequences were far-reaching: North Carolina elected ten Republicans and only four Democrats to represent us in Congress. That was enough to give Republicans the majority in the US House of Representatives. If we still had our fair allotment of seven Democrats representing the people of North Carolina, Democrats would control the House of Representatives and Hakeem Jeffries would be Speaker of the House, not Mike Johnson. Think about what a difference that would make this year.
The courts are still our best strategy for ensuring a fair redistricting process in 2030 after the next census. Since gerrymandering doesn't impact statewide elections, we have been able to elect a Democratic Governor, Lt Governor and Attorney General. Since Justices on the State Supreme Court are also elected statewide, we can regain a majority on the State Supreme Court before the next census if we start paying as much attention to the judges and justices we elect as we do to Council of State positions. Clearly, they are just as important.
Republicans also know the Supreme Court is the gatekeeper for their control of the state -- which is why they are fighting so hard to deny the election of Justice Allison Riggs to her seat on the court. For Democrats, holding Justice Riggs seat is the first step toward rebuilding a Democratic majority on the seven member court. In 2026, Justice Anita Earl will run for reelection. If she wins, in 2028 we need to win the three seats now held by Republicans to ensure a five-seat Democratic majority and fair maps for the 2030 election.
Winning these seats on the courts requires us to get as many Democratic-leaning voters to the polls as we can in each of the next three elections. We can't do this unless we have strong Democratic candidates running for every seat in the General Assembly — even if they can't win. That's why the NCDP is engaging in a grassroots outreach effort to identify and support strong local candidates for school boards and city councils so we can build a bench of experienced and knowledgeable leaders state-wide who know the needs of their communities. With effective Democratic candidates running for every seat, we can bring voters to the polls — even if their vote will not count in gerrymandered districts. As Kate Compton Barr's "can't win" campaign demonstrated, voters become angry and come out to vote when they find out that their voice has been unfairly taken away from them. No matter how gerrymandered the district, their votes will count in statewide races in 2026 and 2028 to help us take back the State Supreme Court and restore our right to choose elected officials who truly represent us at every level of government.
I am grateful that our state Democratic Party leaders understand that Operation RedMap and other assaults on democracy have been successful because Republicans have a long term strategic plan. We must respond in kind, which is why the NCDP has developed a multiyear, statewide plan to save our democracy.
We each need to sign on and commit to do our part: raise our voices, write letters to the editor, be the party’s boots on the ground. We must reach out in every way we can to remind our fellow citizens that we can have the crucial services we want and need--adequate funding for public schools, affordable health care and affordable housing for all, support for reproductive health care (including contraception, abortion and IVF), and protection from gun violence--if we join together and fight for voting rights and fair maps.
We know what’s at stake. We know the approach will work. Will you join us?