BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER
OPPONENTS TO NEW GOP-LEANING
HOUSE DISTRICT PROTEST, FILE SUIT
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Opponents of the new Republican-leaning First Congressional District the Republican-led NC General Assembly ratified last week have wasted no time in openly challenging the new voting district.
One day after the NC legislature approved the new map that turns the First Congressional District from a competitive purple to definitively red, plaintiffs filed suit in federal court claiming that the new district lines not only illegally changes the state’s fourteen congressional delegation from 10 Republicans and four Democrats, to eleven Republicans and three Democrats, but also violates Section Two of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the Constitution because it further breaks up the historic “Black Belt” in Northeastern North Carolina.
That Black Belt - a swath of counties with majority black populations - has helped to elect a black Democrat to Congress from the First Congressional District since 1992. Currently, moderate Democratic Congressman Don Davis, an African-American who won reelection last year to the First District over a Republican there by just two percent, represents the district in Congress.
Davis has now been drawn into the Third District, and in published reports, has said he hasn’t made a decision as to which district he will run in 2026, but maintains that he will continue to fight for Eastern North Carolina.
The newly-drawn First District dilutes the black voting strength of both the current First and Third Congressional Districts, thus denying black voters the ability to elect their own representation, critics say.
Republicans admit that the only reason why they’ve redistricted the area is to help Republican President Donald Trump maintain control of the U.S. House, where the GOP already maintains a slim majority, but could lose it without additional seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
Ironically, the First District is already part of a federal lawsuit alleging racial gerrymandering. Some voters want to amend that lawsuit with this new challenge, charging that Republicans are illegally using race to change the district. The GOP are denying this.
A three-judge panel is still considering arguments per the first lawsuit.
Before the smoke cleared from the recent first lawsuit, Bishop William Barber of Repairers of the Breach held a rally outside of the state legislature promising that a second lawsuit was forthcoming, challenging the GOP redistricting as a “racist gerrymander,” which is constitutionally illegal.
“In my home state of North Carolina this week, MAGA extremists who control the General Assembly did Trump’s bidding and passed a racist gerrymander that they believe will give them one more seat in the North Carolina delegation to Congress,” Bishop Barber wrote in his weekly Substack column online.
“What they did is illegal. It is immoral. And it is also foolish.”
Bishop Barber continued, “This shameless power-grab may well serve to awaken the sleeping giant of an electorate that has not turned out higher than 50% in a modern midterm election. Our Moral Mondays coalition gathered outside the General Assembly in Raleigh, North Carolina on Thursday to announce a campaign of litigation, nonviolent resistance, and mass voter mobilization to begin November 2nd in Wilson, North Carolina - the historic First Congressional district that this latest gerrymander aims to take away from the people of North Carolina.”
Attorneys with the non-profit law firm Forward Justice confirmed that they will also be filing their lawsuit shortly challenging the Republican redistricting of the First Congressional District.
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REP. CECIL BROCKMAN
CAN REP. BROCKMAN GET
DUE PROCESS FROM JAIL?
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Can 6-term Democratic state Rep. Cecil Brockman receive due process, or the right to defend himself, against serious charges that he sexually consorted with a teenage minor before he is expelled from the N.C. House?
That is the pressing question on the table as Brockman, 41, remains in a Guilford County jail awaiting a Nov. 13th court date. Every Democratic leader, from Gov. Josh Stein to NC Democratic Party Chairwoman Anderson Clayton, and now, Kathy Kirkpatrick, chair of the Guilford County Democratic Party, has made clear they want to see Brockman removed from office sooner than later so that the party can salvage his Guilford County seat for the rest of hs term.
Guilford County Democrats would choose a replacement, and Gov Stein, as required by law, would sign off on the choice.
But before any of that can happen, Rep. Brockman would have to be formally removed from office by the Republican-led state House.
After the House wrapped up passage of a new congressional district map last week, and announced that it has concluded all business for the remainder of 2025, Speaker Destin Hall announced that a bipartisan House committee would be formed to review the criminal case against Rep. Brockman, as well as the statutory procedures involved in legally removing him from office.
It’s during that process that the question of Brockman’s right of due process, or right to be heard on the charges he’s being accused of, come front in center.
Unlike the last time a House member was expelled from state House membership, namely New Hanover County Democrat Thomas Wright in March 2008 for illegal use of campaign funds, Rep. Brockman is still behind bars even though a district court judge set his bail at $1.05 million.
If Brockman is still behind bars unable to reach bail before his Nov. 13th court hearing, then how can he participate in his own defense before a House committee judging his future as a state lawmaker? Can he appear via wifi, as he did from a hospital room for his first court appearance?
That is one of the pressing questions facing any moves House Speaker Destin Hall makes in ensuring that Rep. Brockman’s right to due process is upheld. And that has to be worked out before the state House formally returns to work in regular session, or in special session.
For his part, Brockman has not said a word in his defense since his arrest several weeks ago, nor has his attorney, nor any of his legislative staff.
Brockman is charged with two counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor below the age of 16, and two counts of statutory rape.
According to investigators, Brockman allegedly met a teenager on a dating app in May when the minor was just 14, and traveled to live with the minor in Atlanta the following month. They allegedly stayed together through August, when they moved back to High Point to live in an apartment.
It was Oct. 5th that Brockman reportedly called 911, claiming that the minor was missing, and he needed to find him. The case got passed up to the State Bureau of Investigation, which found the teenager, and examined the minor’s cellphone video of a reported 14 alleged sexual encounters with Brockman.
That is the evidence that is purportedly being used against the High Point Democrat as his case heads towards state House removal and criminal trial.
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