Another blow to Dems' House hopes: Butterfield retiring in N.C.

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), a longtime leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, won’t seek reelection next year — another blow to Democrats’ efforts to keep control of the House after the midterm elections.

Butterfield, first elected to an Eastern North Carolina congressional seat in 2004, saw his district undergo significant changes in redistricting. Under its current configuration, now-President Joe Biden won by about 9 points there last year, as Butterfield won reelection by a similar margin — the closest of his electoral career.

Republicans in the state legislature shifted the lines to make the seat less Democratic, however, in the new map, which was enacted earlier this month. Biden would only have won the seat by 3 points under the new lines, and the National Republican Congressional Committee has identified the 74-year-old Butterfield as one of its top targets next year.

Democrats are suing over the new map, arguing that it dilutes the influence of Black voters in his district, which is currently divided roughly evenly between white people and Black people. But the party, in the immediate term, will be looking for another candidate to keep the seat in Democratic hands: The filing deadline for the early-March 2022 primary is Dec. 17.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/17/democrats-house-butterfield-522839

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. Most of the Dem retirees are in safe seats, no? And a few GOP seats are winnable

Due to redistricting as well.

[dsc]

4. this isn't a safe seat now

Butterfield was in some trouble a brand new person will be in huge trouble. But the safe seats suggest that many of them think we will be in the minority which isn't a good sign.

[FBaggins]

6. Butterfield's district was D+7 but shifted to D+1 in the recent redistricting

Really the only competitive seat left in the state.

There's a good chance that Kathy Manning retires as well (her district shifted massively from D+21 to R+16). - though perhaps she'll try to defend Butterfield's district. She won't have much of a chance with the way 2022 is looking now, but she might be our best bet if things even back up a bit.

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. Didn't Cawthorn get gerrymandered out of his seat though?

He’s running for a different district in 2022, IIRC.

[dsc]

9. No he didn't

actually the opposite happened. He had a district he could run in but chose a different district to run in so that the person for whom it was drawn (our state House Speaker) couldn't run.

[FBaggins]

10. No... he moved on his own accord

I think his spin was that his existing district would surely elect a true conservative, but the new district (believed to have been drawn for a state legislative leader who wants a promotion) was in danger of electing someone too RINO for his taste. So he's heroically deciding to run in that district.

His existing district is shifting from R+16 to R+12. The new district is R+25.

[moose65]

11. Nope

Republicans drew the lines. What they did to Kathy Manning’s district is criminal - jerking Greensboro out and putting it with much more conservative, rural counties in the west, after they promised that they wouldn’t split counties.

Butterfield’s district is rural and in the northeastern corner of the state. It could still elect a Democrat, but it will be tougher without him!

[Cryptoad]

2. Geeez

yea everybody that voted for him are just gnawing on the byt to get back to 4 yrs of Trump Hell......LMAO

[bucolic_frolic]

3. I think we'd best focus on the Senate

[zuul]

5. Another 'doom' post. Yawn.

[SMC22307]

13. You must not live in North Carolina...

or be paying attention to Republican gerrymandering throughout the country.

[DownriverDem]

7. If repubs nominate

trumper whack jobs, the Dems will have a chance.

[BlueIdaho]

12. We need to cement as many legislative victories as we can

Before the 2022 elections. There is not a minute to lose when it comes to bettering the lives of ordinary Americans.