Not Even North Carolina’s Democrat Governor Can Undo the State’s Redistricting

(Permanent Musical Accompaniment to This Post)

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what’s goin’ down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin’ gets done, and where flowers are on the hillside, blooming crazy.

We begin in North Carolina, where the state legislature kicked some more dirt on the grave of the Voting Rights Act. From The New York Times:

The new map would likely give Republicans an extra House seat. The Republican-controlled legislature approved it just over a week after Phil Berger, the State Senate leader, and Destin Hall, the speaker of the State House of Representatives, said in a joint statement that they were taking action to protect President Trump’s agenda and safeguard Republican control of Congress. Republicans hold majorities in both chambers largely through the gerrymandering of state district maps, and Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, cannot veto redistricting plans, per the State Constitution.

Well, at least they’re being honest about who’s holding their leashes. And they did manage to find a way to gerrymander further a state that’s already gerrymandered to within an inch of its life.

The redistricting plan has received significant criticism in the state and across the country, partly because of North Carolina’s political identity: It is still considered a swing state with an almost evenly divided electorate, but that is hard to glean from its already heavily gerrymandered map, which was approved by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2023.

Republicans already have control of 10 of the state’s 14 congressional seats. The new map could give them an extra seat in the First Congressional District, which previously included all eight of the state’s majority Black counties and has now been redrawn to include more conservative-leaning counties. The district is currently held by Representative Don Davis, a Democrat.

It’s a good thing John Roberts declared the Day of Jubilee back in 2013, or I’d be suspicious that people were just lying in the weeds, waiting for this opportunity to revive Jim Crow. (From Shelby County v. Holder: “There is no denying, however, that the conditions that originally justified these measures no longer characterize voting in the covered jurisdictions.”)

As long as we’re talking about lying in the weeds, let’s move along to West Virginia, where we can find a cool $34 million lying in the weed. From Mountain State Spotlight:

Since the state’s first dispensary opened in 2021, West Virginia’s medical cannabis program has collected roughly $34 million in taxes, licensing fees, and interest. State law requires the money be used to create a medical cannabis research program, provide resources to residents with substance use disorder and fund law enforcement training. But almost four years later, the money sits unspent. Cannabis is still an illegal drug at the federal level. Traditional banks were unwilling to hold the state’s cannabis dollars, so they’re held at a credit union under control of the state Treasurer’s Office. “The money in the fund will remain unallocated until federal law changes,” said Treasurer’s Office spokesperson Carrie Hodousek.

This is impressively stupid public policy. West Virginia was ground zero of the opioid epidemic. (Eric Eyre’s brilliant reporting laid that out plainly enough to win a Pulitzer prize.) Leaving that chunk of cash to gather dust and interest rather than funding substance-abuse programs is an odd choice, but don’t ask the people in charge. They don’t know.

Lawmakers who helped write the state’s medical cannabis laws were surprised that the money is sitting at a credit union. “I was not aware of that,” said Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, “That’s the first I’ve heard of it, that it wasn’t being spent.” Pushkin helped craft the 2019 cannabis banking legislation. He said there were no discussions he was involved in during that legislative session, or after, that suggested the fund would stall.

Turns out all those old commercials were right. Drugs do make you stupid.

And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, whence Blog Official Great Pyrenees (Human Division) Friedman of the Algarve brings us a tale of affordability. Yes, in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma homeowners pay about $6,000 per year in home insurance premiums, while the national average is $2,801, according to Lending Tree. Even in places like California, where wildfires have ravaged the state, or coastal Florida, which is regularly battered by hurricanes, homeowners pay less per year to cover their home than Oklahomans do. State government is taking notice, with calls from both sides of the aisle to help lower costs. Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt led an interim study session Oct. 7 to investigate causes and solutions regarding Oklahoma’s high prices.

The Oklahoma attorney general is preparing to run for governor, and he clearly smells an issue.

“There is no justification for the unreasonably high insurance rates in Oklahoma. Conveniently, insurance companies are using Oklahoma weather as a red herring to distract from their profiteering tactics,” Drummond wrote. “There is zero evidence I am aware of supporting a position that Oklahoma’s weather justifies these excessive insurance premiums. Moreover, Oklahoma is one of the most affordable states in the country for costs related to home building and repairs, but Oklahomans are still paying significantly more for home insurance premiums than states with significantly higher home values and costs, such as Texas, California and Florida.” In his letter, Drummond said insurance companies doing business in the state have raised rates by 50.8 percent since 2019. The national average over that time period is 10.4 percent, he wrote.

This is what one Oklahoma politician calls a “thriving free market.” Someone’s thriving, anyway.

This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.