Democrats will challenge N.C. congressional maps in state court

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Quick Fix

— Democrats will sue in state court to strike down North Carolina’s congressional maps as an improper partisan gerrymander, following a successful lawsuit that saw the state legislative lines wiped out this summer.


— New polling in the wake of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and moderate Democrats embracing an impeachment inquiry show that voters are divided on if they approve of it.

— Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and Republicans Eddie Rispone and Ralph Abraham brawled in the latest Louisiana gubernatorial debate.

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Days until the Louisiana gubernatorial primary election: 15

Days until the Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia general elections: 39

Days until the Iowa caucuses: 129

Days until the 2020 election: 402

TopLine

THE MAP LINES — A major lawsuit is in North Carolina is cooking, with Democrats planning to sue to overturn the state’s congressional maps over partisan gerrymandering.

The lawsuit — backed by a major, national Democratic group — comes on the heels of a successful challenge to the state’s legislative lines. “The National Redistricting Foundation is supporting a lawsuit that will be filed [Friday] morning by a group of individual plaintiffs in North Carolina who are challenging the partisan gerrymandering of the state’s congressional map,” Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for the group, said in a statement to Score. “The lawsuit, which will be filed in Wake County Superior Court, will challenge the 2016 redistricting plan as violating the North Carolina Constitution and seek to establish a new, fair map for use in the 2020 elections.” The foundation is a nonprofit tied to the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which is helmed by former Attorney General Eric Holder.

Republicans in North Carolina have been remarkable effective at drawing the state’s congressional lines. After two straight elections (2012, 2014) with Republicans winning 10 of the state’s 13 districts, some of the state’s maplines were ordered to be redrawn by federal judges — which ultimately resulted in Deocratic Rep. Alma Adams’s home being drawn out of her district (she won anyways) and forced a member-on-member primary between Rep. George Holding and Renee Ellmers (Holding won). The new map replaced what had been ruled as an improper racial gerrymander with an apparent partisan one, and Republicans kept their 10 seats in 2016 (and in 2018, before the NC-09 result was thrown out).

The map was set to be redrawn for the 2020 elections until the Supreme Court scuttled it, ruling that federal courts can’t police partisan gerrymandering. So Democrats are following the same playbook that worked in Pennsylvania last cycle: challenging the maps in state court as a violation of a state constitution.

Time could be of the essence for any lawsuit filed now, too. The filing deadline for the primaries is in late December, with the primary itself scheduled for early March. And Republicans quickly signaled they would oppose Democrats’ maneuver. “Instead of working to win on their opponent's maps, as Republicans did, they're now trying to get an unelected body to draw lines to ensure their victory,” said state GOP chair Michael Whatley.

Presidential Big Board

POLLS POLLS POLLS — Voters are split on impeachment in new polling. In an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist national poll published Thursday, 49 percent of registered voters say they approve of the “House of Representatives formally starting an impeach inquiry” into Trump, and 48 percent disapprove. Four percent are unsure, but had to volunteer that answer (745 registered voters; Sept. 25).

This tracks with a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll that was also published on Thursday. The online poll shows 43 percent believe that Congress should begin impeachment proceedings, and 43 percent say they shouldn’t, per Campaign Pro’s Steve Shepard. Thirteen percent are undecided, but this poll offers that as an explicit option. More from Steve: “Online interviews for the latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll began Tuesday night, after Pelosi’s announcement, and ran through early Thursday, with nearly all interviews conducted prior to the public release of a complaint from a whistleblower concerned about Trump’s conduct in dealing with Ukraine. Support for impeachment is up 7 points from the previous poll, which was conducted last Friday through Sunday” (1,640 registered voters, Sept. 24-26).

But Steve has an important caveat for impeachment polling you’ll see over the next few days and weeks: “Polls conducted in the midst of fast-moving news events may contain other sources of error, including the past observed phenomenon of voters who don’t respond when negative stories are swirling about political figures they support,” also known as non-response bias.

THE CASH DASH — Allies of Joe Biden are considering launching a super PAC as he slips in the polls — even though a Biden spokesperson said the former vice president would disavow the support of an outside group. “Several former staffers of Mr. Biden and political donors backing his candidacy have held conversations in recent weeks about moving ahead with a super PAC,” The New York Times’ Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin reported. “A lot of us believe there should be a fair fight. He can hold his own with his campaign in these early states or whatnot, but there’s only so much incoming somebody can take without a response,” political strategist Mark Riddle told them, referring to ads from a GOP super PAC. Riddle said a decision on a super PAC would be made in “the coming weeks.”

IN-KIND DONATION — Major Democratic donors on Wall Street are not thrilled by the prospect of Sen. Elizabeth Warren winning the nomination. “Democratic donors on Wall Street and in big business are preparing to sit out the presidential campaign fundraising cycle — or even back President Donald Trump — if Sen. Elizabeth Warren wins the party’s nomination,” CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reported. “In recent weeks, CNBC spoke to several high-dollar Democratic donors and fundraisers in the business community and found that this opinion was becoming widely shared”.

THE PROCESS — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law that would give voters in the state more time to change their party ahead of the closed primary. “They’ll now have until Feb. 14 every year to update their enrollment if they wish to switch parties,” POLITICO New York’s Bill Mahoney reported. “New York has long had the country’s most restrictive guidelines on the subject, requiring people registered in one party to change their registration at least 25 days before the preceding general election.”

The change was praised by Sen. Bernie Sanders, who was upset after 2016, when many voters were unable to change their registration in time for the state’s primary. “For too long, New York state has had one of the worst barriers to primary voter registration in the country, something I have long sought to rectify,” Sanders said in a statement. “Thank you to Gov. Cuomo for signing the legislation before the October 11 deadline, to state legislators for taking this essential step forward, and to grassroots groups in the state who demanded real change and fought for it.”

THE LABOR MOVEMENT — The National Union of Healthcare Workers, a California union that backed Sanders in 2016, issued a joint endorsement of both Sanders and Warren, per Bloomberg’s Max Berley.

Down the Ballot

THE GOVERNATORS — Thursday's Louisiana gubernatorial debate erupted into a three-way brawl, Campaign Pro’s Daniel Strauss wrote in from Lafayette, La. Rispone and Abraham sparred over who was the real pro-Trump outsider in the race, while the incumbent Edwards batted back criticism from both Republicans over whether the state has seen substantial improvements under his administration. The back-and-forth between Rispone and Abraham highlighted the worry some Republicans feel that Republican infighting wastes an opportunity to bash Edwards. At one point, Abraham said, "I am the most conservative congressman that you will ever see. You know that the target that you should be working on is the one to your left," pointing toward Edwards.

Both Republicans lavished praise on Trump and tried to paint the other GOP candidate as a phony Trump supporter. "I have supported, and you know this, supported our wonderful president from the day he was elected and even before that," Abraham said, pivoting to Rispone. "I didn’t just put a bumper sticker on my car." And during closing remarks, Rispone described himself as the "only conservative in this race" and the "one that supported Donald Trump all the time."

Still hanging over the debate is the possibility that Edwards could win the election outright during the October primary, which Steve wrote about last week. Underscoring that point: In an attempt to counter coverage that GOP businessman Eddie Rispone was leapfrogging him to claim second place, the Abraham campaign circulated an internal poll on Thursday showing the congressman at 22 percent, while Rispone is at 20 percent.

But the poll also showed Edwards at 47 percent, with 8 percent undecided, leaving the incumbent dangerously close to winning a majority in next month’s primary.

Meanwhile, Edwards’ grandfather, who was a sheriff to whom he alluded in an ad, also supported segregationist policies as a state lawmaker, The Washington Times’ James Varney reported. “The actions of my ancestors before I was born, if true, do not in any way reflect my views,” Edwards said in a statement to Varney in response. “As the song says, ‘may the work I’ve done speak for me.’ Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve spent my life fighting against inequality, and I will continue that work into the future.”

— The state plane of West Virginia has made over 100 side trips to Lewisburg, the home of GOP Gov. Jim Justice, MetroNews’ Brad McElhinny reported. Justice lives in Louisburg instead of the capital Charleston, “a choice that has sparked controversy over whether Justice complies with the state Constitutions’ residency requirement.”

INSIDE BASEBALL — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, backed a pay cut for the state party’s chairman to boost the salary of the state party’s new executive director, who DeSantis boosted for the job. “Some believe the push to cut [chair Joe] Gruters’ pay is an attempt to make him resign the post. The effort is viewed by some party officials as a continuation of a larger feud between the DeSantis’ camp and those of the belief he wrongly exiled” former Trump Florida aide Susie Wiles, whom DeSantis helped push out, POLITICO Florida’s Matt Dixon reported.

THE HOUSE MAP — Swing-district House Democrats “voiced concerns in a closed-door meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders that they are struggling to keep up with their party’s message on the Ukraine scandal,” POLITICO’s Andrew Desiderio and Sarah Ferris reported.

— Republican Chris Quick, a former state’s attorney, is collecting signatures to run in IL-15, the Belleville News-Democrat’s Joseph Bustos reported. But Quick “ has yet to formally launch a campaign as he waits to see whether state Sen. Jason Plummer decides to run.”

— Local Democrats are expecting Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) to face a primary challenger in MI-13. “It's entirely unclear” who will challenge her, the Detroit Free Press’s Todd Spangler and Kathllen Gray wrote, but “whoever steps up to do so is facing the fight of their lives — on the campaign trail and on the facts.” A potential candidate? Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, who was briefly in Congress after winning a special election in 2018, was “said to be considering” another run.

THE SENATE MAP — Republican Mark Yancey, a Dallas-based investor and self-described “Reagan Republican,” announced he’d primary Texas Sen. John Cornyn, per the Dallas Morning News’ Gromer Jeffers Jr.

ENDORSEMENT CORNER — End Citizens United endorsed Democrat Jon Hoadley, who is angling to face GOP Rep. Fred Upton in MI-06.

— CBCPAC, the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus, backed Democrat Nick Colvin in the primary in MI-03, which is currently represented by independent Rep. Justin Amash.

— EMILY’s List endorsed Kathleen Williams’ bid for the at-large seat in Montana, which is being vacated by GOP Rep. Greg Gianforte, who is running for governor.

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I haven’t read the full report. … If you do want to talk about ethanol, I am happy to talk about ethanol because that’s where all my efforts are right now,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on the whistleblower report, per The Washington Post.

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