In the 2016 election, the Democratic challenger Erick Allen came within 7 percent of defeating the incumbent, despite being outspent four to one. Hillary Clinton carried the district by 14 percent. Rich Golick, who’s served for 20 years, will not be running for re-election.
In 2017, in response to Golick’s narrowing lead, Republicans planned to gerrymander the district, trying to add two predominately white districts and subtract two predominantly African-American districts (House Bill 515). These were among the districts that were dropped from the bill early on (even before the bill failed to pass in 2017).
Read More