Jessianne Pipkins, MPA

For some reason this case about partisan gerrymandering came to mind today. View the original to see the whole thread. #ncpol #elections2026 #redistrciting #scotus #congress #midterms #ncgop

At this time I don't know if anyone I know is one of the victims. But that doesn't matter. It is heartbreaking to have this happen anywhere, much less your hometown. I've never been to the bar it happened at, but when I'm in Southport I regularly go to the restaurant next to it.

My hometown is in national headlines today. The small riverfront coastal town I spent most of my childhood in had a mass shooting last night. Southport has never been crime free but any type of shooting isn't common and definitely not a mass shooting.

The NCGA House has removed the 6 veto override bills from today's calendar and referred them to the Committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations. The 6 bills are HB87, HB171, SB5p, SB153, SB227, and SB558. #ncpol

Got to see Dr Hardy this evening. She is running for the NC07 Congressional Seat, the district I spent most of my childhood in. Check out @kimberlyhardync.bsky.social to learn more about her and her campaign.

This isn't to say that Democrats haven't made mistakes with maps, because they have been guilty of partisan gerrymandering at times too. It isn't right for any party to do and Texas needs to stop what they are trying to do. #gerrymandering #ncpol #texas

I have no clue aside from not having a quorum what can stop Texas from doing what they are trying to do. But the fact they can openly talk about wanting to use partisan gerrymandering shows the downfall effects of SCOTUS rulings.

However, the crappy part is that 2019 ruling on the NC partisan gerrymandered maps by SCOTUS. That ruling let state's know that there is nothing at the federal level that can stop them from partisan gerrymandering.

So now lets look at present day Texas. I don't know enough about how often state's can redraw maps outside of a recent census or court order but I'm scratching my head over the legality.

As a result NC went back to partisan gerrymandered maps for the 2024 elections.

The NC Supreme Court did find that Partisan Gerrymandering is against the NC Constitution. Well until Republicans got a 5-2 majority on the court after the 2022 election and decided 2023 was the time to reverse the ruling they had made on the maps drawn in 2021.

Since 2011, NC's congressional and General Assembly maps have been found unconstitutional by the NC Supreme Court or SCOTUS. In 2019, SCOTUS found that Partisan Gerrymandering was not unconstitutional at the federal level in Rucho v Common Cause.
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18p...

As the daughter of someone who has worked in nuclear energy most of his career, I can assure you this is crazy. 2 reactors will never be finished in SC and 2 new reactors in GA were finished years late and over budget.

Tonight I learned that when you hit your audiobook hours limit for the month Spotify will stop your book, even when you have less than a minute left in it.

So many thoughts...none of them positive.

Got the opportunity to attend a townhall with my Representative Deborah Ross. If you are lucky enough to have a Representative who holds town halls and have the chance to go, take the time to go and listen to them.

I have thought on it and prayed about it, and I have decided: I am running to be the next U.S. Senator from North Carolina.

I find this interesting because I kept the email response from his office after I sent in my concerns.

Best way not to buy things you don't need on Prime Day, or any other day, don't be a Prime member. I had Prime during grad school because of the student discount but haven't had it since. I'm not missing out not having it and my bank account appreciates it.

Ideally if you publicly state that people shouldn't listen to you on a subject that happens to be your job to tall about, maybe you shouldn't have your job. But that clearly isn't the world we live in.

We cannot let voters forget what sitting judges ruled on. If they've wanted to change election laws after votes have been cast once, I have a hard time believing they won't try and do it again.

We also cannot ignore the NC judges who ruled in his favor. Seats on the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court are voted on by NC voters. The exception is when someone steps down and someone is appointed until the next statewide election where voters get a say.

At this time, we don't know if Griffin will seek reelection for his current seat or if he will try again for the higher court. But one thing is clear, if he does these past 6 months must be part of the discussion.

While there is a lot to celebrate, we CANNOT ignore that there are sitting judges in NC who think they can change election laws after votes have been cast.

We can have a discussion about updating election laws before an election. The laws need to be passed with enough time to get voters the necessary information because most voters are not overly informed on the intricacies of election law.

Then we have the NC Supreme Court who was also okay with changing election law after an election but at least understood the HAVA challenges could not stand.

Judges on the NC Court of Appeals had no issue changing the rules after an election. Their ruling would have disenfranchised voters. Not to mention one of the contested ballots was cast by an Army Captain who died in January in the mid air collision between a Blackhawk and commercial jet.

Griffin is a sitting judge on the NC Court of Appeals and he wanted to change election law after an election. A sitting judge wanted his colleagues and the colleagues he wanted to change the rules after an election in hopes he would walk away with more votes.

Last week, NC got a relief in Jefferson Griffin's decision not to appeal a federal district ruling against him and his decision to finally concede. Those are winning things but this story is full of troubling things.