Interesting that the first pass of the congressional remap process sees a drive North for Sue Myrick’s 9th district, essentially taking Patrick McHenry’s chunk of Iredell County from the 10th while giving up Gaston County to McHenry. The upshot of that switch is that Larry Kissell’s 8th gets to keep the half of Union County that is not in Myrick’s 9th. Clearly the GOP wants to make life as difficult as possible for Kissell.
But I’m not enitrely certain handing McHenry a chunk of Gaston unconnected to Charlotte’s powerbrokers and airport locus is that much of a long-term favor, especially when paired with giving the 10th a chunk of Buncombe County in a bid to de-Democrat the 11th — and perhaps send Heath Shuler into the arms of the UT athletic director’s office. McHenry may find himself with a tougher fight than expected.
Stay tuned.
