Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, said Democrats and Republicans revealed their parties' ideal redistricting plans this past week. Each drew up a proposal in caucus. Then the opposing party had a chance to make comments and suggest amendments. No date has been set for a vote on the redistricting plans.
Hackney said there was some overlap in the two parties' proposals. He said Wake and Mecklenburg counties got the most representatives in both plans because of the amount of people who live in those areas. "They are simply the most populated areas. One person, one vote," he said.
Rep. Jim Crawford, D-Franklin, said both plans tried to include the outskirts of metropolitan areas in metropolitan districts. "Each party made the districts around the Wake and Mecklenburg areas reach out past the city lines. It gives cities more votes by including their surrounding areas."
But Crawford said the racial makeup of the plans is different.
"The Republicans have fewer multi-member precincts; they prefer single member precincts," he said. "They also packed blacks into the Republican districts, whereas the Democrats spread the blacks out in order to reach more areas."
Rep. Ed McMahan, R-Mecklenburg, said he fears Republicans will remain the minority if the Democratic plan is passed, but he said House leadership has assured him they will make some changes. "I am now paired with another incumbent Republican in the same district," he said. "I am not very pleased about Republicans being paired to run against each other. This makes the Republicans weak in the House and makes the House (majority) unwinnable in the future."
McMahan said that under the Democratic plan, the number of Democrats in the House could increase from 62 to as many as 75.
But Hackney said it's obvious that either plan would favor its party. "The Democratic plan would increase the number of Democratic seating, and the Republican plan would increase the number of Republican seats in the House," he said.
Crawford said originally he didn't think the Republican plan would pass, but as it gained more support he began trying to influence the plan. "I did not give much thought to the Republican plan because I did not think that it was going to pass," he said. "But now some people say they support it. So, I made sure I had input in both plans, just covering my bases," he said.
