No primary fight for Miller, Price
The latest congressional maps would put Rep. Brad Miller into fellow Dem David Price's 4th district. Miller says he won't challenge his old friend.
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"There is no possibility that David Price and I would run against each other," Miller said. "We've been good friends and allies for a long time."
Miller said he helped Price get to Congress in 1986, when Miller chaired the Wake Democrats, and Price returned the favor ten years ago. "His friends are my friends," Miller added. "The overlap of our support is enormous."
Miller wouldn't have to challenge Price to run again for Congress. Legally speaking, a congressional representative doesn't have to live in the district she or he represents, although of course voters tend to prefer candidates who do live in the district.
According to Miller, he'd only need to move 50 yards or so to be back in the 13th. He says Republicans split Raleigh voting precinct 36 "to shave off the apartment complex where I live. The rest of the precinct is still in 13. My apartment complex is in 4."
It wouldn't be difficult for him to move, he said, but he's not in a big hurry. "We're still months away from knowing what districts will actually be in effect in 2012," he said.
Even with the changes Republicans made for Voting Rights Act counties in the latest map, Miller still expects the plan will end up in court.
"They may have solved one legal problem in the 1st District, but there are many more legal problems," he said. "The only objective they have had here has been partisan gain."
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