[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 181 (Friday, December 6, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H6424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE PURPLE STATE

  (Mr. NICKEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. NICKEL. Mr. Speaker, North Carolina is a true purple State. With 
our nearly 50/50 split between Democrats and Republicans, North 
Carolinians expect fairness when it comes to how their voices are 
represented in Congress.
  The Republican-controlled legislature's latest mid-decade 
gerrymandered election maps did more than just silence voters in North 
Carolina. They reshaped the balance of power in Washington, D.C., 
costing Democrats control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
  The congressional map we used to have with a 7-7 Democrat-Republican 
split reflected the true political makeup of our State. It was fair. It 
gave voters on both sides confidence that their voices mattered, but 
that wasn't good enough for legislative Republicans in Raleigh.
  They threw fairness out the window, forcing through a mid-decade map 
that handed Republicans an unfair 10-4 advantage in this next Congress. 
That is 71 percent of North Carolina's seats in the House going to 
Republicans in our 50/50 State.
  It doesn't take a mathematician to see what is wrong with that. Now, 
with Adam Gray's victory in California's 13th District giving 
Republicans a bare three-seat majority in the House, it is clear that 
gerrymandering tipped the scales in their favor and cost Democrats 
control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
  If not for Republican gerrymandering, Hakeem Jeffries would be our 
next Speaker of the House with a 218-217 victory. That is why I am 
fighting for my bill, the Fair Maps Act, which establishes an 
independent nonpartisan redistricting commission in every State, which 
I know you support, Mr. Speaker.
  While I am not going back to Congress because of gerrymandering, I am 
not giving up or going out quietly. The people of North Carolina 
deserve better.

                          ____________________