What We Learned from Kate Barr GASP event

What We Learned from Kate Barr

Jessica Barry

Earlier this week, Underwire attended an event spotlighting politician and anti-gerrymandering activist Kate Barr, hosted by our friends at GASP (Girlfriends Actively Supporting Progress). She gave us incredible insight into why gerrymandering has created the political climate we suffer in today, and how she is working to reverse it. 

Gerrymandering began, and got its name, in Massachusetts in 1812. Governor Elbridge Gerry redrew the state’s districts to benefit his party, giving them ¾ of the say in the state legislature with only ½ of the vote. One of the districts was so egregiously contorted that some said it resembled a salamander; hence the portmanteau, gerry-mander, was born. Ever since then, gerrymandering has run rampant because politicians from both parties use it to cause uncompetitive elections in the interest of maintaining, and amassing, political power with ease. Today, gerrymandering in the United States is a race to the bottom that the Democratic Party is unlikely to win. 

Every day, we are being told that the United States is more polarized than ever, and that this polarization is the cause of gridlock that prevents anything from being accomplished. In reality, the opposite is true– Americans share a surprisingly large consensus on many key issues. So why can’t we have what we want? Gerrymandering. In such a heavily gerrymandered political system, leaders don’t need to listen to voters and can push through partisan policies. Primary elections become overwhelmingly important, because a certain party is guaranteed the seat in the general election. Voters are disenfranchised because politicians choose who their voters are, when it should be the voters choosing their politicians to represent them.

Achieving legislative action on the key issues that a majority of voters agree on becomes possible if we have competitive elections. Competitive elections can happen in ‘good’ districts: such districts are compact, contiguous, all relatively the same size, comparable to city/county/municipal lines, and keep communities of interest together. Competitiveness is the only district qualification not currently prescribed by the courts, but it is easily the most important. Politicians don’t want to be in competitive races because they don’t want to have to answer to the will of the voters, but this is not democracy; authoritarian regimes love elections they know that they can, and will, win. As soon as 2030, nearly all American voters will not be voting in competitive elections. We must reverse course to save democracy, and that starts in the South.

Kate Barr is doing the work to turn the tide against increasing gerrymandering. She is going deeper than merely taking up the fight, as it was the only option our grandmothers and mothers had; employing the use of unconventional election strategies, she hopes to ensure that fighting is not the only option left for our daughters. Her plan starts with recruiting terrific candidates to run in deep-red districts. To date, she has recruited 61 state legislator candidates, most of which are not your typical politicians. These candidates enter the race knowing they are likely to lose, but their role in doing so is to ensure that every community has at least one candidate willing to tell the truth. They also serve as a vessel to carry word about the importance of our state Supreme Court races, as the courts are the only institutions that can directly counteract gerrymandered maps. Next, Barr trains these candidates well for today’s political climate. She hosts summits to teach them social media tactics, brainstorm their pitches, write stump speeches, and build their campaign websites. Beyond initial recruitment and training, she makes sure that they are supported all campaign long. These candidates are bravely risking their social capital by running unwinnable races, so they deserve tools, time, and money. 

Barr has seen results from enacting this election strategy already. In 2024, 7 of 8 counties in North Carolina that trended bluer contained races that were a part of her plan. 554 voters flipped from Republican to Democrat, and overall voter turnout saw a dramatic increase. In 2026, Barr herself ran in the NC-14 Republican primary. Though she lost, she gained valuable insight about getting Democrats in the district on board with her plan and outreach to disengaged unaffiliated voters that can strengthen her election strategy in the future. 

Barr’s biggest piece of advice for us was to wake up every day and ask ourselves what we can do to make sure we are ready when the gerrymandering regime falls, though we do not know exactly when that will happen. We must figure out what personal torch we are carrying, and carry it for as long and far as we can. Maybe others will carry their torches alongside you; we should challenge our friends to identify their personal torches and invite them to join us. People are more willing to listen to the advice of those close to them than to a politician, so this is a front of the fight that we can take up today.

You can support Kate Barr’s work by donating to the Can't Win Victory Fund.