Candidates explain why they run in redrawn voting districts they can't win

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Kate Barr's message to voters in North Carolina's 37th Senate District is straightforward.

"I am going to lose. I am not concerned about saying the wrong thing and maybe losing a vote here or there because someone didn't like my phrasing. This is an opportunity to be fully transparent about how our electoral system works in our state and how our mapmaking systems work," said Barr, a Democrat.

According to Civitas Partisan Index, the district is viewed as "Safe Republican," with an R+13 rating. Barr's campaign website, katebarrcantwin.com, is a nod to an issue that has become the main focus of her campaign: the effects of redistricting.

"I'm knocking on doors, and folks are saying, 'No one has ever come here before. No politician has knocked on my door before.' And that in and of itself is a symptom of gerrymandering," Barr said. Her campaign website lists reproductive rights, public education, and gun laws as other policy platform issues.

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After taking over as the North Carolina Democratic Party Chair, Anderson Clayton expressed a desire to run Democrats in all legislative races, after the party left dozens of seats uncontested during the last cycle. This year, there's been marked improvement, with the party leaving just two legislative seats uncontested.

"When the opportunity came up to run for this seat and it was looking like it might go uncontested, I raised my hand and I said I would love to do this, but I want you all to know I'm going to run super honestly. I'm going to run as a loser and I'm going to talk about gerrymandering the whole time," said Barr.

According to the Civitas Partisan Index, just five Senate seats and three House seats are viewed as "toss-ups", though a handful of others in both chambers are anticipated to be competitive.

"I'm not saying we're going to get 100% competitive districts across the entire state of North Carolina. But voters are the people who suffer by having like four or five competitive seats out of 170. We are a purple state, and I don't care if you're Democrat or Republican, I think you should be challenged for your seat and voters should have the opportunity to evaluate the job that their elected leaders have been doing," said Barr.

Gerrymandering Works Both Ways

On the other side of the aisle, Republican Jerry Doliner is running in House District 40, a seat in Wake County that Civitas Partisan Index rates as Democrat +13.

"I thought that there ought to be a Republican running. I didn't want to concede a district to the Democrats," said Doliner.

He's not soliciting donations, choosing to self-fund his campaign.

"Nobody was going to give me money anyway and the party's not. I didn't want to ask people to give me money on a race that I would likely lose. Why would they waste their money on me?" said Doliner.

He described his campaign efforts, focusing on lower taxes, government deregulation, and education, as "low-key," working with a small group of friends to hand out materials.

"In recent years past, the edges of both parties have become so radical in one direction or the other that it's hard to govern. I think it's hard to govern. So I thought people ought to have a choice," said Doliner.

Despite finding himself in a similar situation as Barr, Doliner does not take issue with the state's redistricting process.

"Republicans used to vote in the Democrat primary so that they would have a choice in who would hold statewide offices or local offices because there were no Republicans. So now that we're doing it, they're complaining. So elect more Democrats and flip the House and then redistricting in six years, you'll control," Doliner said, pointing to Democrats' prior engagement in such tactics.

State legislators can redraw voting maps, with Republicans using their supermajority status in both chambers to do so on a partisan basis. Political analysts say they believe the state's new Congressional maps will likely sway representation from the current split of seven Republicans and seven Democrats, to 10 Republicans and four Democrats, or 11 Republicans and three Democrats; Cook Political Report lists just one seat (NC-01) as a "toss-up". According to a report published last year by the nonpartisan organization Fair Vote, just 8% of US House seats were "truly competitive" in 2022.

Is There A Better Way?

"Right now every legislature that has a majority seems to be redistricting in their favor. And my question would be, why would any voter want that?" said Denis McDuff, who cast his ballot Thursday in Raleigh.

McDuff said he believes the current maps discourage people from wanting to run and can dampen voters' enthusiasm.

"it doesn't matter which party. I don't think the Democrats should do it. I don't think the Republicans should do it. It's not in the best interests of our country," said McDuff.

He'd like to see a national standard apply to establishing voting districts, which states can administer.

"If your party has the best ideas, why are you afraid of competing impartially?" said McDuff.

A report from the Brennan Center for Justice found the percentage of competitive races decreased when maps were drawn by a commission, Republicans or Democrats, but increased when done so by courts.

"As voters walk down the ballot, they will become more and more aware of the partisan dynamics of a lot of these state, House and state Senate districts that favor one party over the other, based on these new maps that we have in play this year," said Dr. Michael Bitzer, a Political Science Professor at Catawba College. "But we also have to recognize that the voters have sorted themselves typically into like-minded communities. In some research that I've done, 70% of all the precincts in North Carolina vote overwhelmingly for one party over the other. They're basically landslide precincts. So a lot of this certainly can be blame toward the map makers. But I think equal, if not slightly more dynamic is, we have done it to ourselves."