The Democratic candidate running for North Carolina state Senate isn't running to win, she's running against gerrymandering.
Kate Barr is the Senate 'unhopeful' in North Carolina's District 37, which Barr describes as "so gerrymandered that I don't have a chance," at katebarrcantwin.com.
Despite her campaign sweatshirt emblazoned with the word "LOSER" in caps, the Senior Behavioral Scientist and mother of two boasts an impressive resume that includes multiple degrees, a run of successful entrepreneurship, and years of experience in local politics, but she has no expectation of winning.
According to Barr, "In gerrymandering, politicians pick their voters instead of voters picking their politicians... and the Republicans have chosen us." She says her goal is to bring awareness to the way gerrymandering, which refers to the manipulation of district boundaries to favor one group, disenfranchises voters.
Shawn J. Donahue, a political scientist at the University of Buffalo, told CBC that in many democracies, electoral boundaries are drawn by non-partisan third-party organizations, but in the U.S., legislators typically decide. Which means the party currently in power often choose boundaries that protects that power.
In a CBC radio interview with Barr, a non-partisan policy and law institute, The Brennan Center for Justice, is cited as saying NC has "one of the two most extreme congressional maps currently in place," where Democrats "could win, at most, four of 14 seats." The state's Senate and congressional maps received F's from Princeton University's non-partisan Gerrymandering Project.
Among Democrats running for seats forecasted as nearly impossible to win, Barr is unique in centering her campaign around the idea that she can't win, and, as she says, "having a pretty good time doing it."
As far as losing battles go, Donahue suggested that the Democrat's push in districts stacked against them could be worthwhile if they bolster fundraising and energize voters for the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
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