House Democrat Kathy Manning to Retire Following New North Carolina Gerrymander
Manning becomes the fourth representative from North Carolina leaving in 2024.
Representative Kathy Manning of North Carolina, a Democrat, has today announced that she will not seek a third term representing the state’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. This is a reversal of her October decision to seek re-election despite a new partisan map drawn by the state legislature.
Manning, 67, is the 32nd retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives for the upcoming 2024 cycle - 21 Democrats and 11 Republicans. Notably, she is the fourth retirement from the North Carolina delegation - joining fellow Democrat Jeff Jackson and Republicans Dan Bishop and Patrick McHenry. Notably, both Jackson and Bishop are running to become the state’s Attorney General.
Manning has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since January 2021. North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District currently covers the Piedmont Triad and includes the cities of Greensboro and Winston-Salem.
However, the North Carolina state legislature earlier this year redrew its congressional map with a partisan gerrymander to ensure several Republican pickups in its House delegation. Manning’s district was specifically targeted and split into three separate districts that would each safely elect Republicans.
Manning first ran for Congress in 2018 as the Democratic nominee for North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District. Despite losing 51.5-45.6 to Republican incumbent Ted Budd, she impressed local officials with her fundraising abilities. In 2020, the state Supreme Court threw out the congressional map and redrew the boundaries. Manning ran for the newly created 6th District and prevailed 62.3-37.7 against Republican Lee Haywood in the general election.
In 2022, the state legislature once more tried passing an illegal partisan gerrymander after picking up a district following the 2020 census. The state Supreme Court once again struck down those plans. Under the court-mandated map, Manning was re-elected 53.9-45.0 against Republican Christian Castelli. However, partisan control of the state Supreme Court flipped during that election. The new justices have since allowed the state legislature to gerrymander control in their favor for 2024.
For the 118th Congress, Manning serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. She is currently the Vice Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
No candidates have announced campaigns for the Democratic nomination to succeed Manning in representing the 6th District. However, four Republicans are already competing in their primary - former U.S. Representative Mark Walker, 2022 nominee Christian Castelli, 2022 nominee for the 13th District Bo Hines, and High Point Mayor Jay Wagner.
Under the current lines, Joe Biden won North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District with a 56-43 finish over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential contest. With the new gerrymander though, the 6th District instead would have been won by Trump in 2020 with a 57-41 margin.