Democratic Rep. G. K. Butterfield announced his retirement on Thursday, a decision that came about two weeks after North Carolina’s Republican-dominated state legislature passed a new gerrymandered map that reduces the Black population of his district to make it considerably more conservative. The congressman himself said of the new map, “It’s racially gerrymandered. It will disadvantage African-American communities all across the 1st Congressional District. I am disappointed, terribly disappointed with the Republican majority legislature for again gerrymandering our state.” Read more