Roby Brock interviews Will Bond, the new state Democratic Party chairman, about congressional redistricting. Bond says it’s not possible to draw a majority black congressional district. By any practical definition, that’s correct. It might be possible — by a wild gerrymander — to start with only the majority black portion of Pulaski County and snake down toward Pine Bluff and other heavily black population centers, jumping over and around white pockets, to get a number approaching majority. But it would split up numerous counties and do damage to any notion of reasonable shape of congressional districts.
Republicans and black Democrats would be happy to see most of the Pulaski and Delta population concentrated into one district with 30 to 40 percent black population. It would be no sure winner for a black candidate in the general election, though it likely would encourage the nomination of a black Democrat. It certainly wouldn’t produce a winner if, as in 2010, many black voters stayed home.