Court panel says N.C. voting maps use unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. What’s next?

CHARLOTTE, NC — North Carolina lawmakers are redrawing the state’s Congressional district maps, after judges called the old ones unconstitutional.

They have two weeks to get it done.

A panel of Federal Judges ruled Republicans’ created an unfair advantage when they used race and other partisan factors to create the current maps.

Our political contributor Mary C. Curtis stopped by Rising to offer some perspective.

Debate No. 3 and Donald Trump’s ‘Election Rigging’ Theories

CHARLOTTE, NC — President Obama now addressing Donald Trump’s repeated claims of election rigging and fraud, calling the comments “irresponsible.” That’s expected to be one of the big talkers at the final presidential debate in Las Vegas, with Emmy award-winning journalist Chris Wallace cast as tonight’s moderator. Our political contributor Mary C. Curtis joins us for more.

Will ‘Campaign Trail Obama’ Energize Black Women for Hillary?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In his two successful presidential campaigns, President Barack Obama enjoyed the unequivocal support of black women—even those not named Michelle.

African-American women had the highest voter turnout rate than any other group in 2008 and 2012, and thus an outsized say in the result—and not just by flexing their influence at the ballot box.

Many African-American women did the tough work of registering voters,canvassing neighbors and relatives and making sure not to miss the beauty salons and barbershops, and those supporters included celebrities such as Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer, who made the rounds in Charlotte in 2012.

To win in 2016, the presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton cannot just rely on the gaffes of her apparent opponent Donald Trump. She needs to energize the Obama electorate, and, while the young people on that list flirted with her primary competition Bernie Sanders and have not historically been the most reliable voters, African-American women have already shown their historical dependability.

For women of LatinaCon, growth in numbers and influence

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – With many Republicans running away from even a whisper of immigration reform after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s shocking primary loss in Virginia, it’s been pointed out that such a short-term strategy for winning in 2014 might translate into problems with attracting the Hispanic vote in 2016. But that’s not the GOP’s only obstacle as it struggles to win the support of a growing U.S. demographic.

All you had to do was listen to the gasps that greeted an anecdote shared by keynote speaker Deborah Aguiar-Vélez at LatinaCon, a gathering in Charlotte last weekend of more than 300 committed, engaged Hispanic women — professors, entrepreneurs and community activists. Aguiar-Vélez described how she sent out an exuberant Tweet during a recent meeting in Washington of Latino alumni of Project Interchange, the American Jewish Committee-sponsored program that brings leaders and policy makers to Israel.

Sharing experiences with a group that included fellow Interchange alumna Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor led to Aguiar-Vélez’s optimistic tweet, quoting speaker David Harris, the executive director of the American Jewish Council. It read: “Latinos & Jews become stronger with each other presence.”

Political provocateur Ann Coulter saw the tweet and retweeted with a message of her own: “Yes, but one’s always the maid.”

GOP launches minority outreach in N.C., defends voter law in court

CHARLOTTE — Republicans were busy in North Carolina and Washington on Monday. Did the activity in the courts and on a conservative stage have the effect of muddying the welcome mat the GOP rolled out for minority voters in the state?

Earlier in the day, Republican state officials filed to urge a federal court to dismiss two lawsuits challenging changes in North Carolina’s voting laws, changes opponents contend disproportionately harm African American voters. A third challenge by the U.S. Department of Justice is waiting in the wings.

Monday evening in Charlotte, at the opening of the Republican National Committee’s African American engagement office in North Carolina, Earl Philip, North Carolina African American state director, said he believed in the message he has been taking to churches, schools and community groups.