Redistricting is Boon to Black Politics (Raleigh News and Observer)
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July 5, 1982

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Case Files, Thornburg v. Gingles Working Files - Guinier. Redistricting is Boon to Black Politics (Raleigh News and Observer), 1982. 05f361f6-db92-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/a117d655-1cc6-4c21-b9af-150615ba3eaf/redistricting-is-boon-to-black-politics-raleigh-news-and-observer. Accessed April 19, 2025.
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The News and Observer u!it', Ralelgh, N.C., ilonday, July 5,1982 Daily 25c, SundaY 50'c Main Number 829-4500 Classified 829-4600 Circulatlon 829-4700 Under the dome Redistrieting i-s boon to black politieians In February, state Rep. George A. Hux, D-Halifax, compared the partition of Halifax and other northeastern North Carolina coun- ties to create majority black dis- tricts to the Western allies' ap- peasement of Adolf Hitler at Mu- nich in 1938. As votes from Hux's new black majority 7th House District were tabulated Tuesday night, he be- came one of the foremost victims of 1982 legislative reapportion-. ment. Statewide, reapportionment ap- lpeurr to be playing a major role in at least doubling the number of black legislators. Hux, who tried to amend legisla- tion creating black-majority dis- tricts in his area, was defeated soundly by Frank W. Ballance, a black attorney from Warrenton. Ballance received 53.8 percent of the vote compared with 38.4 per- cent for Hux, chairman of the Courts and Judicial Districts Com- mittee in the lg8l session. A third candidate won the remaining 7.8 percent. See DOME, page 6A Under Continuedfron pagc l.A Rep. C. Melvin "Pap" Creecy, D-Northampton, a black first-term member, won renomination in the new 61 percent black Sth District over a white challenger. Creeey polled 53.7 percent of the vote against Andrew V. Brown. Black leaders said last week that they expected at least eight of the 13 blacks nominated for state House and Senate seats or in ru- noffs to be eleeted Nov. 2. That would at least double the four black members of the Gener- al Assembly, three in the House and one in the Senate. In Tuesday's primary, one black wcin a Senate nomination and nine blacks won House nominations. One black also was unopposed for a Senate nomination, and two blacks are in runoffs for House nominations. G.K. Butterfield, a black attor- ney and civil rights leader from Wilson, told Dome: "['m not satis- fied, but I am pleased to know that black candidates can run for office and be elected. Still, we're far from where we ought to be." If eight blacks are elected in No- vember, they would comprise 4.7 percent of the Legislature in a state that is about 23 percent black. Butterfield said a doubling of black legislative membership "will make a tremendous differ- ence in the political life of black people in the state, partieularly by having a black voice on most ma- jor committees." Benjamin Ruffin, a senior black aide to Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., said there was little question that redistricting aided black candi- dates. "Redistricting was a factor," he said. "Where we had candidates, we did well." The new legislation, in addition to creating black majority dis- tricts in the ncrtheast, also creat- ed a two-seat black majority dis- trict in Cumberland County and a black majority district in Guilford. Ruffin said blacks would learn quickly the dynamics of power in the Legislature by functioning as a cohesive body. "Those eight or l0 votes could be real important on many issues," he said. Buy and Sell With Want Ads t