The mayor in the future would almost certainly be a Republican. One can generally not expect to become mayor until he/she has gained some name recognition. With Republicans dominating the Council with their 5-3 majority, those 5 members would gain the name recognition necessary to consider a run for mayor. With greater name recognition, Republican voters actually voting, non-affiliated voters voting Republican, low Democratic turnout, and voter suppression of minority voters, a Republican candidate would most likely win a race for mayor.

These are Trudy Wade’s goals; they are truly destructive to the local Democratic Party. A successful lawsuit, which was supported by Representative Ralph Johnson, prevented her legislation from being implemented in 2015, but the Republican legislature is sure to try to implement this change for the 2017 City Council races. If Trudy Wade’s goal of eliminating white Democrats from public office succeeds, the Democratic Party in North Carolina will become as ineffective as the Libertarian Party. We must work hard avoid that outcome; we need black and white Democrats in leadership positions in our city, county, state, and nation.

Similar redistricting legislation, which is not subject to the governor’s veto, has resulted in a substantial drop in the number of white Democrats holding elective office throughout the state. The geographical boundaries of Congressional districts, state house districts, state senate districts, county boards of commissioners, city council districts, and school board districts can be changed by the General Assembly.

Black voters are concentrated into irregularly shaped, racially gerrymandered districts to minimize their impact on other districts In 2010 six of the 13 congressmen from North Carolina were white Democrats; now there is only one. The Guilford County Board of commissioners included 5 white Democrats in 2010; now there is only one. There are 6 white democrats on The Wake county board of commissioners; legislation was passed that likely would have reduced that number to two, but the legislation was thrown out by the courts as unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.

Similar legislation is being considered for other Boards of Commissioners, city councils, and school boards. Unless the Republican majority in the general assembly is defeated in November, this trend will continue, and white Democrats and black Democrats will not have much impact on policy decisions.