New vs. Old in Senate 19

The boundaries of Senate District 19 have been re-drawn.  I will not go deep into the history of the court battle that lead to the changes, but the district was drawn in 2010 to exclude as many African Americans as possible, and the federal courts did not find that constitutionally permissible.  Republican Wesley Meredith won the seat in 2010 and has had little trouble beating down the opposition every two years since.

All that may or may not change this year.  The lines no longer favor a Republican and make up what FLIPNC calls the third most “flippable” Senate District in North Carolina.

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Blue Wave or Ripples in November?

A picture is all this post really needs, so here it is, from the special election for a congressional seat in Pennsylvania yesterday.blue wave

As you can probably tell, there’s not a lot of red on that map.  A district that Trump won by 20 points a year and a half ago has now gone to a Democrat.

One theme of this site is whether all politics is local.  This is a prime case study of that question, and your answer depends on which way you spin it.

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“I’m not concerned. This is what we go through every year.”

dirtRecently Mayor Pro Tem, Ted Mohn, warned fellow city council members of what he considered to be an “apocalyptic” budget shortfall that was rapidly approaching.  Apparently, Fayetteville’s tax revenue is decreasing while spending is increasing.  No surprise there:  our local economy is fairly stagnant, we are adding multi-million dollar projects to our budget, and the cost of everything is rising.

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