Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha on Tuesday said a North Carolina court’s decision to strike down the state’s GOP-drawn congressional map as unconstitutional could make politicians work harder in their campaigns.
Rocha went on to say that he would like to see “every district in America” be split “50-50.”
“I would like to see this ruling, as a political consultant, as somebody who works on campaigns where if the district is 50-50 we get a lot of work, so every district in America should be 50-50. I want to be on the record saying that,” Rocha, the founder and president of Solidarity Strategies, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Lawrence Jones on “Rising.”
“Democrats are just as guilty as Republicans. Let’s make all of these districts even. It would make these politicians work harder,” he continued.
“It would make things really great because people would have to work for your vote every election instead of being in a safe seat, getting lazy, not having to worry about talking to your constituents. Voter turnout would come up because you’d be spending money talking to people,” he said.
“I think it would be good all the way around. So maybe the North Carolina example could be something we could use everywhere.”
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina ruled on Monday that Republicans had redrawn the map unconstitutionally to favor their party.
The panel also reached the same decision in January and the case ended up before the Supreme Court.
However, the case was sent back to the lower court to re-examine whether the plaintiffs had standing to sue in light of their decision in another partisan gerrymandering case out of Wisconsin.
— Julia Manchester
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