DDHQ Morning News Spotlight: Redistricting News Round-Up

Welcome to this morning’s Decision Desk HQ Morning News Spotlight on Elections Daily as part of the Decision Desk HQ News Network.

Morning Headlines

• A Missouri House committee is pushing a new redistricting plan in the hope to break a stalemate with the state’s Senate. The plan would continue Republicans’ current 6-2 advantage over Democrats for U.S. House seats from the state. Republicans control both houses of the Missouri General Assembly, but the state still remains the only state that has yet to pass any redistricting plan. Lawsuits are currently pending in state and federal courts requesting that the courts take over the process and produce maps.
• A federal judge has denied New York Democrats’ request for an emergency injunction to have the state use the Democrat-drawn Congression map that was recently struck down. It was viewed as a last-ditch effort for the Democrats to try to regain the advantage they hoped to have in the state’s redistricting. According to Politico, the federal judge “proceeded to relentlessly mock every aspect of their request”. More court challenges are coming from the Democrats, but if the ruling on the maps continues to be upheld, a special master will be appointed to redraw the congressional and state senate maps.
• The New Hampshire Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday over the ongoing dispute in the congressional redistricting process there. The Attorney General’s office contended that though the Governor and the General Court have disagreements over the current plan, they are not at an impasse and the state’s Supreme Court should not intervene with a plan of their own.
• The Ohio Redistricting Commission reconvened yesterday for the first time since the state’s Supreme Court ordered them to redraw state legislative maps, just two days before the court-imposed deadline. Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Bob Cupp have left the commission and appointed replacements from their chambers. No real decisions were made except that they would not bring the two independent map makers they had previously hired back in to finish their work. They are expected to pass a slightly altered version of one of the four sets of maps that have already been deemed unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.
• Lawyers for North Carolina U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn argued in court yesterday that the state should not be able to ban the embattled Congressman from running for reelection. A group of voters from his western North Carolina district contend that the Congressman violated his oath through “insurrection” on January 6, and under the 14th Amendment, should be disqualified from the ballot. Cawthorn’s lawyers argued that doing so would violate his First Amendment rights, and also cited an 1872 law granting amnesty to Confederates after the Civil War. Georgia Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene is facing a similar legal challenge in her home state.
• Voters in Northern Ireland are heading to the polls today to vote in elections for their regional assembly. Sinn Fein, a party that backs Irish reunification, is expected to make gains and take control of the most seats in the legislature. The DUP won just one more seat than Sinn Fein in the last election. Polls close at 10 p.m. (BST), 5 p.m. (EDT).
• Over at Elections Daily, Max Woods takes a look at what factors will decide the outcome of today’s North Ireland election.
• ICYMI: Nick Field recaps a strong night for Trump conservatives in Ohio and Indiana.

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