State lawmakers had a surprise for some local congressional hopefuls on Tuesday, when they released a new map shifting the proposed lines of the 13th District far to the east of Forsyth County.
Forsyth County Republicans Vernon Robinson and Nathan Tabor had announced that they would run for the 13th District seat in 2012, when it appeared that the district would be extended to the west and flipped from one that leaned Democratic to one that leaned Republican.
Tuesday, Robinson and Tabor found out that most of what was going to be the 13th District is now proposed as an addition to the 6th Congressional District, held by longtime Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C.
"This is no tweak," said Tabor, chairman of the Forsyth County Republican Party. "We heard there were going to be changes, but this is like going from summer attire to a black tuxedo. It was a huge change, not one or two strategic adjustments."
Tabor has decided to postpone running for Congress until a more favorable opportunity presents itself. He said he still plans to resign as chairman of the county Republican Party. The party's executive committee will meet Thursday to pick a replacement.
Robinson, a former Winston-Salem city council member who has run for several statewide offices, said he would not comment until the redistricting plan is actually adopted.
"No plan has become law yet," Robinson said.
Redistricting is required every 10 years to take into account population shifts that result in some areas growing faster than others.
State Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, and state Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, the chairmen of the House and Senate redistricting committees, released their first proposal to redraw the state's congressional districts on July 1.
That plan called for moving Surry and Stokes counties, along with a section of eastern Forsyth County, from the 5th District to the 13th District, which at that time was shown extending along the Virginia-North Carolina border from Surry to Granville counties.
On Tuesday, Rucho and Lewis said they had scrapped that plan because of adjustments they felt were needed to the 1st District in the eastern part of the state. They said that during public hearings some people had complained about the shape of that district.
The 13th District is now proposed as a GOP-leaning district including parts of Wake County and other nearby areas.
The 6th District would still include Surry and Stokes counties along with points eastward, but it would also dip into Guilford County to pick up about 60 percent of the people there.
The revised plan would leave Forsyth County split between the 5th and 12th districts, as it is now, but the lines and proportions would change.
Currently, according to 2010 census figures, 59 percent of the county's population is in the 5th, a Republican-leaning district held by Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican. The remaining 41 percent of the county is in the 12th, a Democratic-leaning district held by Rep. Mel Watt, a Democrat.
Under the first redistricting plan, 77.5 percent of Forsyth's population would have been in the 5th, 14 percent would have been in the 12th, and 8.5 percent would have been in the 13th.
Under the latest plan, 85 percent of Forsyth County's population would be in the 5th and 15 percent would be in the 12th.
The new plan puts four incumbent Democrats into two districts, a procedure called double-bunking because they must run against each other to keep their district.
Brad Miller, who represents the 13th District, is doubled-bunked with Bill Price in Price's 4th District. And Mike McIntyre, who holds the 7th District, is double-bunked with Larry Kissell in Kissell's 8th District.
Tabor said he called Foxx and Coble and offered his full support in their re-election campaigns. Congressional candidates are not required to live in a district to run for it, but Tabor expressed no interest in trying for one of the other nearby districts.
"There was an opportunity, but that opportunity is gone," Tabor said.
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