VRA Standards for Redistricting

[minionofmidas]

Cohen is the preferred candidate of the Black community of Memphis. Anybody who doesn't understand that - white Republicans on the internet and a certain minority segment of the Memphis Black political caste - is quite the idiot.
There is no controversy over Butterfield. There are whites musing on the internet about how it came to be that someone like Butterfield would be considered Black. Brady is a do-nothing as a congressman (he and Joe Crowley both basically do it as a nights second job, next to running a local party machine) and still he has that job, so the discontent (which clearly exists) can't be all that serious either.

Oh yeah, Butterfield's first primary.
US CONGRESS DISTRICT 1
Name on Ballot   Party   Ballot Count
G. K. Butterfield   DEM   43,257
Samuel (Sam) S. Davis, III   DEM   7,577
Christine L. Fitch   DEM   4,301
Donald (Don) Davis   DEM   3,296
Darryl Smith   DEM   2,111

Of course, that primary was held on the same day as the special election, wherein he was the Democratic Party's candidate (nominated by some convention system I suppose, haven't searched too closely.) Davis is White (but Fitch is Black, haven't looked for the others.)

I would say that then he was wrong. If the minority votes for its preferred candidate at a rate greater than the rest vote for another candidate the minority candidate should win. That is, if the targeted minority feels more strongly than the rest of the district they will win. That is a completely fair standard.

It is (once you've drawn districts based on voter registration rather than population). But it's not what the law says, and it's certainly not how the law is interpreted.

[BigSkyBob]

Cohen is the preferred candidate of the Black community of Memphis. Anybody who doesn't understand that - white Republicans on the internet and a certain minority segment of the Memphis Black political caste - is quite the idiot.

As others have already noted here, Cohen won due to factionalism within the Memphis Black community [between the Ford and Herndon factions.] That Cohen has entrenched himself as the incumbent, and factionalism has persisted doesn't whitewash what happened.


However, I am willing to further test the premise. There is a proposal for a 60%+ Black district that stretches into Jackson county. Draw it, and let's see.

In any case, what happened in Memphis is further proof that 40% districts are not efficient for nominating Black nominees.

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An observation that is evident at a glance.

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Regardless of his merits, or demerits, as a Congressman, the reality is that a White man won in a district that was slight Black majority. So much for the contention that a 40% Black district ought to be considered safe for a Black nominee.

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Just evidence that the party nomination process ought to be challenged under the VRA.

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It is (once you've drawn districts based on voter registration rather than population). But it's not what the law says, and it's certainly not how the law is interpreted.
[/quote]

It is completely consistant with the text of the VRA.

[BigSkyBob]

After some research, Hilliard's 90s district was 70% Black (on total population, in 2000) and, like the post 2010 edition, included the Black parts of Montgomery.

Which only goes to prove my point. In a 70% Black district Hillard won, while he lost in 2002 when his district was regressed to slightly above 50%.

[DrScholl]

Hillard lost the primary less because of the configuration and more because Davis ran a more compelling campaign. The district was still over 60% Black, not slightly above 50%. Hillard's situation is completely separate to what the goal of the VRA.

[krazen1211]

As others have already noted here, Cohen won due to factionalism within the Memphis Black community [between the Ford and Herndon factions.] That Cohen has entrenched himself as the incumbent, and factionalism has persisted doesn't whitewash what happened.


However, I am willing to further test the premise. There is a proposal for a 60%+ Black district that stretches into Jackson county. Draw it, and let's see.

In any case, what happened in Memphis is further proof that 40% districts are not efficient for nominating Black nominees.

There are other valid tests like that, such as whether Gene Green would win his seat without the excess black population of the district controlling the outcome of a so called Hispanic district.

[freepcrusher]

what krazen doesn't realize is that we don't care whether someone is black, brown, yellow, red etc. When we look at precinct maps, we look if it is a D or an R precinct. When we see black or hispanic precincts we don't think black and hispanics we think democrat precincts that happen to have a lot of blacks and hispanics in them.

[nclib]

As far as Hilliard-Davis in Alabama was concerned, if it was 62% black (perhaps VAP 58%-59%?), and blacks registered 90% Dem and whites registered 50% Dem (prob. an overstatement), that would put (at least) 71% of primary voters in AL-7 being black. Even if whites voted overwhelmingly for Davis, that would put (again at least, likely much more) 30% of blacks for Davis. So in any case blacks did not vote as a bloc in the primary.

[jimrtex]

Didn't Justice Kennedy in the Bonilla case have some dictum suggesting that if you hit 50% VAP for a minority, that is enough even if not enough to elect a candidate of the minority's choice?  Or am I confused and just having a senior moment?

You are confused. 

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[BigSkyBob]

As far as Hilliard-Davis in Alabama was concerned, if it was 62% black (perhaps VAP 58%-59%?), and blacks registered 90% Dem and whites registered 50% Dem (prob. an overstatement), that would put (at least) 71% of primary voters in AL-7 being black. Even if whites voted overwhelmingly for Davis, that would put (again at least, likely much more) 30% of blacks for Davis. So in any case blacks did not vote as a bloc in the primary.

If, by the logic offered concerning the VRA, Hilliary won 70% of the Black vote, he was the preferred candidate of Blacks. He lost, so, the "preferred" candidate of Blacks lost. Either that is important, or it isn't. What is hypocritical is to say it is important in the general, but not in the primary.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

How about we eliminate VRA districts. We all know they only benefit democrats. Instead let's take the current population numbers and divide by 500,000. The districts would be fair and you would have 617 members of congress. In this instance, Indiana would have 13 congressional districts. California would have 74.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

How about we eliminate VRA districts. We all know they only benefit democrats.

Of course they do. Especially in states like Florida where they draw a minority-pack district to make all of the surrounding districts uber-Republican. Or North Carolina, where the shoestring district prevents the creation of a separate Democratic seat in Greensboro-Winston-Salem.

Instead let's take the current population numbers and divide by 500,000. The districts would be fair and you would have 617 members of congress. In this instance, Indiana would have 13 congressional districts. California would have 74.

This on the other hand is perfectly reasonable, although I should point out that increasing the size of Congress does not guarantee fair districts.