Verne Strickland Blogmaster July 20, 2011
Excessively incumbent Democrat wants to get Robeson and Fort Bragg back in his grasp.
StarNews File Photo
Last Modified: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 6:43 p.m.
U.S. Rep. Mike Mcintyre said Tuesday that he plans to run for re-election in a newly redrawn 7th Congressional District even though the latet proposal puts his Lumberton home in an adjacent district.
Meanwhile, New Hanover and Pender counties would both be split between two congressional districts under the new map released Tuesday afternoon by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. The district boundaries are substantially different than the first draft released early this month, which didn't divide the counties.
Under the latest proposal, the new 7th Congressional District would include about three-fourths of New Hanover County voters, leaving out the downtown Wilmington area. It would also contain eastern Pender, all of Brunswick, Columbus, Bladen, Duplin, Johnston and Sampson counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Hoke, Lenoir and Robeson counties.
But McIntyre's house in Robeson County isn't in the proposed 7th District. Instead, it is in the adjacent 8th District, along with fellow Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell. That means McIntyre would have to choose between facing Kissell in a Democratic primary or running in the new Republican-leaning 7th District, as members of Congress don't have to live in the area they represent.
In a statement Tuesday condemning the new map, the Mike McIntyre for Congress Campaign Committee said McIntyre planned to try to retain his seat in the 7th District. He also plans to try to get Robeson and Fort Bragg restored to the district.
Meanwhile, New Hanover and Pender counties would both be split between two congressional districts under the new map released Tuesday afternoon by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. The district boundaries are substantially different than the first draft released early this month, which didn't divide the counties.
Under the latest proposal, the new 7th Congressional District would include about three-fourths of New Hanover County voters, leaving out the downtown Wilmington area. It would also contain eastern Pender, all of Brunswick, Columbus, Bladen, Duplin, Johnston and Sampson counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Hoke, Lenoir and Robeson counties.But McIntyre's house in Robeson County isn't in the proposed 7th District. Instead, it is in the adjacent 8th District, along with fellow Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell.
That means McIntyre would have to choose between facing Kissell in a Democratic primary or running in the new Republican-leaning 7th District, as members of Congress don't have to live in the area they represent.
That means McIntyre would have to choose between facing Kissell in a Democratic primary or running in the new Republican-leaning 7th District, as members of Congress don't have to live in the area they represent.
In a statement Tuesday condemning the new map, the Mike McIntyre for Congress Campaign Committee said McIntyre planned to try to retain his seat in the 7th District.
He also plans to try to get Robeson and Fort Bragg restored to the district."Congressman McIntyre has accomplished much for the 7th District and Southeastern North Carolina for the past 15 years, and he will work to continue to represent it in the next Congress and for the foreseeable future," the committee's statement said.
He also plans to try to get Robeson and Fort Bragg restored to the district."Congressman McIntyre has accomplished much for the 7th District and Southeastern North Carolina for the past 15 years, and he will work to continue to represent it in the next Congress and for the foreseeable future," the committee's statement said.
His committee condemned the revised map as "a blatant and brazen political attack on Southeastern North Carolina's communities and counties."
The committee noted the new map divides five southeastern counties: Robeson, Pender, New Hanover, Cumberland and Hoke.
"They've taken Southeastern North Carolina and sliced it and diced it into five separate congressional districts with no regard for its communities of interest, its people and their needs," the committee said.
Leaning to GOP
Voters in the proposed 7th District chose Republican John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama for president in 2008 by a margin of 58 percent to 42 percent, an indication of the conservative tendencies of voters in the proposed district. About 52 percent of voters in McIntyre's current district voted for McCain.
"He's just really in a difficult position with the new maps if indeed this is what the new districts will look like," said Jonathan Kappler, research director for the N.C. FreeEnterprise Foundation and a close observer of state politics.
Republican Ilario Pantano, a former Marine who lives in New Hanover County and lost to McIntyre in last year's election, said he lives in and would plan to run for election from the new 7th District.
"Ilario made the decision to run for Congress earlier this year without knowing what the district lines might be, because he knew from listening to the people of Southeastern North Carolina that they were ready to have a congressman who would fight for their conservative principles," Pantano's campaign said in a prepared statement.
The statement also said that the campaign believed it would be unfair to the people of the district to have a representative – obviously a reference to McIntyre – who doesn't live in the district.
The 3rd Congressional District, meanwhile, would include all or parts of 22 counties in eastern North Carolina, including the downtown Wilmington area and central and western Pender County. The incumbent in that district would be Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican from Farmville in Pitt County.
Boundaries for the state's 13 congressional districts are updated once a decade to account for population shifts identified by the U.S. Census. Typically a controversial and partisan process, this year is no different. Republicans in the state legislature control the process because they hold majorities in both the state House and Senate.
State committees will begin discussing the congressional district maps on Thursday morning in Raleigh. The full General Assembly still must approve them. The maps will first be used for the 2012 elections.
McIntyre and Kissell wouldn't be the only Democrats put into the same district by the new plan.
The residences of Reps. David Price and Brad Miller would be placed in the same Piedmont district, said state Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, the state House's chief mapmaker.
While a North Carolina resident can run for any congressional seat in the state, it's tough to run outside your home district.
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