North Carolina, South Carolina and the Missing Middle
Image description: Large red text against a white background reads, “When you can’t even choose between two candidates, there is no middle in politics- and no way for people outside the party in power to make politicians attend to their life needs.” Small blue text below reads, “It’s time to change that.” The blue, turquoise, purple, and red Sister District Project NYC logo is below that. The quotation is bordered by red and white stripes and red and white stars against a blue ribbon at the top and the bottom of the image.
by Alec Appelbaum
Tim Scott, a Republican Senator, had the nerve to pillory President Biden’s action plan as a menacing agenda to “put Washington even more in the middle of your life.” This took nerve, rather than just doctrine, because Republicans have worked for decades to make sure that people living on the edge never get a chance to send representatives to Washington. Consider what Scott’s own state legislators have done this year- and then compare that output to what Sister District-supported lawmakers one state away.
Scott’s state legislature seized the last round of Census-driven redistricting in 2011 to lock in the status quo. The state’s guidelines call on legislators to “preserve communities of interest” (link opens in new window) when they draw representational maps. Many see that language as code for racial segregation. It’s hard to push that charge aside when you consider Clemson professor Matthew Saltzman’s (link opens in new window) observation in a Charleston weekly (link opens in new window) that more than half of the state’s House seats last year involved uncontested elections.
When you can’t even choose between two candidates, there is no middle in politics- and no way for people outside the party in power to make politicians attend to their life needs.
Up I-85 in North Carolina, Sister District-supported contender Sarah Crawford busted through the re-districting trap to flip an open seat last year. Since she took office, she’s sponsored or cosponsored more than 20 bills (link opens in new window) to do things that Senator Scott claims to cherish For example, some of the bills help law enforcement agencies (link opens in new window) apply for grants; foster a safe reopening of schools with attention to kids’ mental health needs; and otherwise enlist the state to serve its people. That’s all of its people, not just the extremists who put themselves at the center of primary elections.
Sarah won her seat by campaigning the Sister District way. She answered voters’ questions, listened to their stories, and keyed her priorities to the broadest and most immediate public needs. With a seat on the Committee for State and Local Government, she’s using the same strategy as a lawmaker. She knows what all our candidates know- and what Sen. Scott knows as well, even if he won’t say it: that Republicans’ refusal to govern toward the middle pushed our democracy to the edge.
Electing accountable servants like Sarah, who earn victory in open competition, can help communities restore the vital center.