{"id":38384,"date":"2026-05-04T16:04:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=38384"},"modified":"2026-05-06T09:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:58:07","slug":"how-the-2000-redistricting-allowed-justice-roberts-to-foot-his-door-into-gop-congressional-majorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=38384","title":{"rendered":"How Chief Justice Roberts used the 2000 Census to put his foot his door for Republican majorities at the expense of Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last Post: <a href=\"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=38367\">My Response to ChatGPT Gerrymandering History<\/a><br \/>\nNext Post: <a href=\"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=38394\">3069 days<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55099597489_cd28819125_t.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/> <strong>Donate to, Support or learn about the last lincoln republican. Click here:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/weltyforcongress.com\">Weltyforcongress.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I wrote a post about this in 2006. You will see that age has erased the links which explained its contents but fortunately I saw the date and enough information to ask ChatGPT a question which described how the GOP got black voters to help them add more Republcians to Congress as an aftereffect. Here is ChatGPT explanation of what happened. <strong>Be sure to scroll down the map of North Carolina&#8217;s black friendly but Democratic Party killing Congressional Districts. <\/strong><em><\/p>\n<p>MY QUESTION:<\/p>\n<p><em>In about 2006, North Carolina redistricted its congressional districts in a way that helped both Republicans and African Americans elect people to Congress at the expense of the Democratic Party. Can you tell me a little bit about how that came about?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>THE ANSWER:<\/p>\n<p>What you\u2019re thinking of is a real\u2014and somewhat counterintuitive\u2014episode in North Carolina politics where redistricting produced gains for Republicans and Black voters at the same time, while weakening the statewide Democratic Party\u2019s overall seat share.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how that came about.<\/p>\n<p>1. The legal and political backdrop<\/p>\n<p>After the 2000 census, North Carolina had to redraw its congressional map. This process was shaped heavily by:<\/p>\n<p>The Voting Rights Act of 1965<br \/>\nA series of court cases, including Shaw v. Reno, which limited bizarrely shaped majority-Black districts but still allowed race to be considered<\/p>\n<p>The key tension:<\/p>\n<p>The law encouraged creation of districts where Black voters could elect their preferred candidates<br \/>\nBut courts also warned against using race too aggressively in drawing lines<br \/>\n2. \u201cPacking\u201d and its political effects<\/p>\n<p>Mapmakers (Democrats controlled the legislature at the time) created or preserved majority-Black districts, especially:<\/p>\n<p>The 1st District (held by G. K. Butterfield)<br \/>\nThe 12th District (held by Mel Watt)<\/p>\n<p>To make those districts reliably elect Black candidates, they concentrated Black voters into a small number of districts.<\/p>\n<p>That had two big consequences:<\/p>\n<p>A. Positive for Black representation<br \/>\nThese districts became very safe seats for Black Democrats<br \/>\nBlack voters had strong influence in electing candidates of their choice<br \/>\nB. Negative for Democrats statewide<br \/>\nBy concentrating (or \u201cpacking\u201d) reliable Democratic voters into a few districts,<br \/>\nsurrounding districts became:<br \/>\nWhiter<br \/>\nMore conservative<br \/>\nMore competitive\u2014or Republican-leaning<br \/>\n3. Why Republicans benefited<\/p>\n<p>Even though Democrats drew the map, the outcome helped Republicans because:<\/p>\n<p>Democratic voters (especially Black voters) were less evenly distributed<br \/>\nRepublicans could win more districts by smaller margins<br \/>\nDemocrats won fewer districts but by huge margins<\/p>\n<p>This is a classic example of:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPacking\u201d (concentrating voters) vs.<br \/>\n\u201cCracking\u201d (splitting voters across districts)<\/p>\n<p>In this case, packing Black voters indirectly helped Republicans win more seats overall.<\/p>\n<p>4. Why Democrats accepted it<\/p>\n<p>This is the interesting strategic part.<\/p>\n<p>Many Democrats supported this kind of map because:<\/p>\n<p>They were committed (and legally required) to protect minority representation<br \/>\nBlack voters were a core part of the Democratic coalition<br \/>\nCreating majority-Black districts was seen as:<br \/>\nPolitically fair<br \/>\nLegally safer under the Voting Rights Act<\/p>\n<p>But the tradeoff was real:<\/p>\n<p>Stronger minority representation<br \/>\nWeaker overall Democratic seat share<br \/>\n5. The broader pattern<\/p>\n<p>North Carolina wasn\u2019t unique. Similar dynamics appeared across the South:<\/p>\n<p>States like Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi<br \/>\nMajority-Black districts increased Black representation<br \/>\nBut often helped Republicans win more total seats<\/p>\n<p>This dynamic has been debated ever since:<\/p>\n<p>Some argue it empowers minority voters<br \/>\nOthers argue it reduces their influence statewide<br \/>\n6. Why this moment matters<\/p>\n<p>The 2000s North Carolina maps became a key example in later debates about:<\/p>\n<p>Racial gerrymandering vs. partisan gerrymandering<br \/>\nWhether minority representation should be concentrated or spread out<br \/>\nHow to balance fair representation vs. overall partisan outcomes<\/p>\n<p>These issues continued into later court fights, especially in the 2010s.<\/p>\n<p>If you want, I can walk you through a before-and-after map breakdown showing exactly how the districts shifted numerically\u2014it really makes the tradeoff much clearer.<\/p>\n<p>OF COURSE I ASKED FOR A LINK TO THE MAP:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/1\/18\/North_Carolina_congressional_districts_2003-13.gif?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&#038;utm_campaign=index&#038;utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled&#038;_=20140609154705\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Look at the snake that is Congressional District 12<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Post: My Response to ChatGPT Gerrymandering History Next Post: 3069 days Donate to, Support or learn about the last lincoln republican. Click here:&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38384"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38398,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38384\/revisions\/38398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}