Wiley Nickel: “I thank my friend and colleague from North Carolina. She deserves to have a fair shot to come back to Congress and the…”

“I thank my friend and colleague from North Carolina. She deserves to have a fair shot to come back to Congress and the ability to continue representing her constituents. She was robbed by partisan Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly, which gerrymandered our State with surgical precision. This is a huge problem not just for North Carolina but for the entire rest of the country. Voting rights have been under the legislative microscope for years now, with threats to roll them back and add obstacles for voters who want to cast their ballots. Madam Speaker, I firmly believe voters should choose their politicians; politicians should not choose their voters. North Carolinians deserve a fair and transparent electoral process that ensures that every voice and every vote is heard and accounted for. This shouldn't be a partisan or political issue. It is about fairness. In States and in places where voters have a choice, where they are allowed to put ballot initiatives on the ballot, they vote overwhelmingly for fair maps to bring balance to the U.S. Congress, but the fact of the matter is that 90 percent of the people in this Congress come from districts that are gerrymandered or safe seats for Democrats or Republicans. Less than 10 percent of the seats in this body are in seats like the one that I won in 2022 that are truly competitive and that could go either way. That is what gerrymandering has done to this Congress and to this country.…”