Chris Cooper

not a fan of this post. not at all.

Cashiers is 27 miles from my house & located in the same county (Jackson), but it's simultaneously in another universe.

1/5 Jackson County residents are in poverty; 4 billionaires live in Cashiers.

www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

Memorandum Opinion and Order – #216 in WILLIAMS v. HALL (M.D.N.C., 1:23-cv-01057) – CourtListener.com MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER signed by CIRCUIT JUDGE ALLISON J. RUSHING, CHIEF DISTRICT JUDGE RICHARD E. MYERS, II, AND JUDGE THOMAS D. SCHROEDER on 11/26/2025; that NAACP Plaintiffs' motion for a pre...

BREAKING: Federal judges are allowing North Carolina to use a new congressional map that could help Republicans win an additional U.S. House seat in the 2026 midterm election
www.courtlistener.com/docket/68059...

There’s been a raft of scooter thefts on campus.

That’s not good.

But, I do wish the subject lines of the campus emails warning us about said scooter thefts didn’t say “motor vehicle theft” as if there’s a real life Vin Diesel running a stolen car ring in Cullowhee.

Fascinating article by Seth McKee, Dan Smith & Olivia Zhang showing that in-migrants to FL increasingly register as Republicans upon their arrival in the ☀️ State

The trend is uniform regardless of whether the in-migrants come from blue or red states

academic.oup.com/psq/advance-...

Last Week in Redistricting Last week was a doozy of a week in redistricting news. Here's a quick rundown of the highlights.

Having a hard time keeping up w/ the redistricting news from last week? I was, too.

So, I did what I do when I can't quite get my thoughts organized--I wrote.

Here's some takeaways from TX, NC, & a few other items:

open.substack.com/pub/chriscoo...

Filing w/ the FEC matters but that doesn't make you a candidate.

To appear on the ballot you must file w/ NCSBE. Those deadlines vary by state, but in #ncpol, the filing period is Dec. 1-Dec. 19.

see @oldnorthstpolitics.bsky.social 🔗 ⬇️ for more

3/3

www.oldnorthstatepolitics.com/2025/08/who-...

That brings the grand total to 8 Democrats & 2 Republicans who have filed w/ the @FEC.

1 of those Democrats has withdrawn (@ColMoeDavis) & 1 other (@ChrisHarjes) is still posting online content, but has indicated that he is not going to file.

2/3

Another day, another candidate filed w/ the FEC for #nc11

acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:...

1/3 🤏🧵

#ncpol

Cooley: “we only call him the new guy when it’s convenient.”

Isbell: “You want grow up and paint houses like me, trailer in my yard till you’re 23. You want to feel old after 42 years, keep dropping the hammer and grinding the gears.”

This DBT Decoration Day time capsule is worth every penny.

BREAKING: Justice Alito has temporarily blocked the Texas redistricting court's order, effectively restoring the newly drawn map, while the Supreme Court considers the petition. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

We’ve now reached the “bald eagles dropping cats onto cars” portion of the apocalypse.

Federal judges appear skeptical of challenge to NC’s new congressional map Judges pressed attorneys for advocacy groups about their novel legal theory that alleges retaliation against voters.

Judges pressed attorneys for advocacy groups about their novel legal theory that alleges retaliation against voters.

If this reporting is right, it looks like that while Utah lawmakers are going to appeal rulings adopting a court-drawn congressional map, they aren’t going to try to change the map for the 2026 midterms.

kutv.com/news/local/u...

Evidence of racial polarization in Georgia last week. In one race, a White D ran against a Black R; the inverse was true in the other. So, where did the White D over-perform the Black D? In whiter areas.

So what happens now? Why appeal, of course.

But, as @taniel.bsky.social reminds us, the filing deadline is right around the corner

(5/5)

And, there were, of course, experts presenting quantitative data showing the likelihood of creating such a map based on criteria other than race.

See here for a good summary of the court's assessment of Dr. Moon Duchin's report.

(4/5)

The order is 160 pages, so there's too much to tweet w/o taking all day), but the decision systematically reviews a whole lot of legislative history & public record information to establish that it was race, not partisanship that drove the decision. See this, for ex ⤵️(3/5)

The defendants had argued that this new map was about partisanship (namely, getting more Reps in office), not race.

This is a similar argument to what we're likely to see in #ncpol & elsewhere (see #5 in this @theassemblync.bsky.social piece: theassemblync.com/politics/nc-...)

(2/5)

In a 2-1 decision (w/ a Trump-appointed judge part of the 2), a federal court blocked TX from using its new congressional map, which would have shifted 5 seats to be more Rep & reduced minority voting power

Here's the TL;DR description of the decision (copied from the order itself) ⤵️

1/5🧵

It went beyond the songs--every word of those seemingly spontaneous stories was planned, practiced & served a purpose

Stage patter wasn’t something to to kill time while tuning his guitar on stage; it always set up the next song.

Every word and every thing with a purpose

(2/2)

Loving the tributes to Todd Snider.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned enough, though, was his work ethic.

Seems odd for a guy who lived life as a tipsy gypsy, but his genius didn't just happen.

Even Todd Snider had to sit his ass in a chair and write. Every day.

(1/2)

Not yet. But we can hope that next year they will.

Many of them this semester were enamored with "kick-ass concepts." Less so when they looked it up & figured out that it's just a real estate developer, but when their imaginations were flying as to the purpose, it was truly something to behind.

Slam-dunk assignment for state & local politics class: have the students read through a state's lobbying directory and identify the funniest, best, and scariest principals

They are consistently surprised at the variety of groups who lobby and I am consistently laughing at the weird groups they find

Rest easy, Todd Snider.

The most amazing thing about this Olivia Nuzzi story isn’t that she had a digital affair with a presidential candidate almost 40 years her senior, but rather that she claims to have written a book on her phone while hiking.

Looking Back at the Nov. 2025 Elections (& A Few Other Things)

Re-upping for the AM crowd--some reflections on the 2025 elections in #ncpol & elsewhere, along with some links to new polling & Utah redistricting.

chriscooperwcu.substack.com/p/looking-ba...

What a great event (& I'd say that even if they hadn't bought me a beer).

@nclocal.bsky.social is doing important work & Lilly Knoepp is the perfect hire.

If you're interested in local news, #ncpol, or how we can supply better information in state & local politics, they're a must follow.

Timing and Turnout Public policy in the United States is the product of decisions made by more than 500,000 elected officials, and the vast majority of those officials are elected on days other than Election Day. And be...

I agree 100%. Odd year elections are fun, but problematic. Turnout is low, and the potential for special interests to drive policy are way too high:

See: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Thanks, Mark!