A Democratic congresswoman from North Carolina has decided not to run for another term next year, citing the state’s new electoral map that puts her district as leaning Republican.
“I won’t file for re-election in the egregiously gerrymandered Congressional districts,” Rep. Kathy Manning complained on the X platform.
Roll Call reported that Manning said in October she was planning a run for a third term before the GOP-led state legislature approved a new congressional map that makes her district a likely pickup for Republicans.
“I cannot in good conscience ask people to invest their time, resources and efforts in a campaign that is rigged against us,” Manning said in a statement that was posted on her official House website. “However, if the impending lawsuits are successful and the General Assembly is forced to draw fair congressional districts, I will seek to continue my service to our community.”
Legal challenges have cast a shadow over redistricting in North Carolina for several years. The map implemented in 2022 stemmed from a court challenge against an alleged Republican gerrymander, ultimately leading to a delegation evenly split between seven Democrats and seven Republicans.
However, earlier this year, the state’s Supreme Court overturned a prior ruling that deemed partisan gerrymandering illegal. This reversal granted Republicans, who control majorities in the state legislature, the authority to redraw the maps in a manner that could potentially enable them to secure victory in as many as 11 out of the state’s 14 districts in 2024, Roll Call reported.
“Other North Carolina Democrats also face more difficult districts next year. Freshman Rep. Jeff Jackson, whose district would also be favorable to Republicans, is running for state attorney general rather than running for a second term in the House. Rep. Wiley Nickel is also among the most vulnerable incumbents in the House with the new map. And freshman Rep. Don Davis is expected to run in one of the most competitive races next year,” the outlet noted further.
Meanwhile, Republicans’ slim majority in the House is getting slimmer, leading Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to take to the X platform on Thursday to vent frustration at the situation, which she attributed to self-inflicted wounds.
“Well.. Now in 2024, we will have a 1 seat majority in the House of Representatives. Congratulations Freedom Caucus for one and 105 Rep who expel our own for the other,” she wrote. “I can assure you Republican voters didn’t give us the majority to crash the ship,” she said, adding, “Hopefully no one dies.”
Well..
Now in 2024, we will have a 1 seat majority in the House of Representatives.
Congratulations Freedom Caucus for one and 105 Rep who expel our own for the other.
I can assure you Republican voters didn’t give us the majority to crash the ship.
Hopefully no one dies.
— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) December 6, 2023
Her venting comes after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier this week that he would leave Congress by the end of the year. It also comes after nearly half the GOP conference voted to oust now-former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who has yet to be convicted of any crimes he’s been charged with.
Per the Hill, “Republicans will only be able to afford three GOP defections to pass any party-line legislation” after McCarthy’s departure, and Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH) is also expected to exit Congress next year.
McCarthy wrote that he would resign from his House seat at the end of the month, although he pledged to “serve America in new ways.”
“I know my work is only getting started,” he said.
Several Republicans voiced their concerns over expelling Santos before he was formally found guilty of any wrongdoing.
“Given the merging of politics and justice these days, an expulsion vote could be used as political warfare or to tip the scale in a decision of an ongoing court case,” Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) warned.
“It seems the sentence is being handed down before the conviction,” he added. “Congress should follow the precedent of the last 232 years and only vote to expel once a member is convicted of a crime or treason.”
Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) concurred, tweeting that the Santos expulsion vote set a “dangerous precedent.”
“I believe that expelling a Member of Congress before conviction sets a dangerous precedent, which is why today I voted no to expel Rep. George Santos,” he tweeted along with his full statement.
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