The state legislature recently passed a bill to redraw North Carolina’s congressional districts and create an additional Republican seat.
That bill had six sponsors. Among them was Democratic State Senator Paul Lowe, who voted against it.
Lowe represents Forsyth County’s 32nd District, and while he was the original sponsor of SB 249, his bill had nothing to do with redistricting. He says once a bill is filed, it becomes public, which means anybody within the General Assembly can use it.
"The bill never made crossover, so it didn't get over to the House side," says Lowe. "So it just died. But although it died, it wasn't completely dead. In this case, some Republicans needed a bill to attach something to. So they took that one and attached something to it, and used it."
Lowe says he saw the bill’s final version — An Act to Realign the North Carolina Congressional Districts — when everyone else did. He adds that he spoke out against SB 249, saying that it’s diluting African American votes, and he voted against it.
"In my ten years in the General Assembly, I've never seen anything quite like this," he says. "Certainly, as an African American, we thought we were past certain things, but we're still fighting some of the same old fights."