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Yes, Virginia, there is a representative for Davie County in the U.S. House.

And her name is Foxx, Virginia Foxx.

But not after this year’s election.

Thanks to redistricting by the NC General Assembly, Davie County has been placed into a new 6th District. Davie went from joining counties to the west and north to a district that includes Davie, Rowan, Davidson and parts of Cabarrus, Guilford and Forsyth counties.

It is a heavily Republican new district, and the former representative, Democrat Kathy Manning of Greensboro, chose not to seek reelection because of the majority of Republicans in the new district. In other words, she was “re-districted” out of office.

We don’t provide extensive coverage of the U.S. races for political office; it’s just about more than we can handle to let our readers know about local candidates. But the absence of Virginia Foxx on the primary ballot – and the number of signs for other candidates that have been popping up along our roadsides – brought several questions to our office.

“Why can’t I vote for Virginia Foxx?”

And almost without fail, when told she’s no longer in their district, they’ll be perturbed and mumble something about the Democrats trying to take over the world. Sorry, but this time it’s the Republicans trying to take over the world. They were in charge of the redistricting process. These people who want to vote for Virginia Foxx are always somewhat calmed when told, after their grumbling, that a Democrat will likely never be elected to represent the 6th District as it is drawn today.

It’s so Republican that there isn’t a Democrat running for the office. Manning was the incumbent, and she withdrew from the race after the new districts were drawn.

The GOP candidates are Bo Hines, Addison McDowell, Jay Wagner, Mark Walker, Christian Castelli and Mary Ann Contogiannis. No favorites here. No recommendations here.

The redistricting also included state senate and house seats. Davie is in a state senate district with Davidson County. Davie is in a state house district with Yadkin County and a portion of Rowan. Again, both are overwhelmingly occupied by Republican voters.

It is confusing, to be sure. After all, it’s government, which in itself is often confusing – no matter which side of the aisle you rest your feet.

But local Republicans shouldn’t fret. While they won’t get to vote for Virginia Foxx, they will get to vote to for a Republican to replace a Democrat in the new 6th District.

Progress? We’ll see.

– Mike Barnhardt