Most politicians run to win. Kate Barr is different.
Kate Barr is anything but your typical politician. She is a behavioral scientist, a mother of two young children, and a pillar in her community of Davidson, North Carolina. But above all, Kate Barr is a loser. On purpose.
Throughout the latter half of 2024, Barr dedicated nearly all her free time to hitting the campaign trail with an unusual goal: to lose. As the Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s Senate District 37, a race that was impossible for Democrats to win because of newly redrawn district lines, Barr set out to raise awareness about the harms of gerrymandering.
During the 2022 election, Davidson, where Barr resides, was a part of District 41.
In 2023, Davidson was redrawn into District 37, which is majority Republican.
Davidson is a small college town 20 miles north of Charlotte. The town used to be a part of District 41, which has voted blue since 2014. In 2023, state Republicans redrew Davidson into District 37, which is majority Republican (NC General Assembly). Joining a Republican stronghold essentially dilutes the impact of Davidson residents, as their votes will be overpowered.
It seems counterintuitive for a candidate to run in an election they cannot win. Campaigns are expensive, they suck up exorbitant amounts of time, and they open the doors for public scrutiny. In 2022, Vickie Sawyer ran unopposed as the Republican candidate for North Carolina Senate District 37. Despite her resounding win, the Iredell Democratic Party was still searching for a brave individual to cast their name as Sawyer’s Democratic challenger for the 2024 election.
Barr never pictured herself as a politician. But 2016 was a real wake up call for the lifelong Democrat. “I was ready to toast our first female president,” said Barr. “And afterwards, I recognized everything I hadn’t done. I didn’t knock doors. I didn’t get my friends to vote. I didn’t donate a single dollar. I didn’t even talk to people about voting or who I was voting for and why.” Searching for a way to make a difference, Barr began to get involved in her local politics. Her experience as a former Parent Teacher Association (PTA) President and her career as a behavioral scientist allows her to understand the ins and outs of her community and clearly communicate her ideas. And when Barr discovered that there was no Democratic candidate for her State Senate race, she knew that she had to step up.
“ I needed to find a different way to make some noise and gerrymandering has, for me, been a consistent throughline for the cause of a lot of the extremism we see in politics right now.”
Pictured: Kate Barr and Beth Kendall setting up outside the polls on Nov. 2, 2024.
Shifting Lines
North Carolina is one of the most heavily gerrymandered states in the country. Between 2020 and 2023, its district map was redrawn three times—despite redistricting typically occurring only once per decade after the release of new census data. The district map is what determines who gets sent to the U.S. House of Representatives. As a battleground state, North Carolina's shifting political landscape has led to repeated changes in voting districts, allowing the party in power to reshape the map in ways that help maintain its control.
In 2021, North Carolina’s Republican controlled legislature approved a congressional map that would have given the GOP 10 of the state’s 14 seats. However, in 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled the map unconstitutional and replaced it with a court drawn version for use in that year’s midterm elections.
The court created district lines resulted in an even split between Democrats and Republicans in the 2022 election, reflecting North Carolina’s long standing political competitiveness. However, during the 2022 election, Republicans secured a majority on the State Supreme Court. In 2023, the court overturned its previous ruling on district maps, enabling state Republicans to implement one of the most partisan redistricting plans in the country.
These new maps ensure a Republican majority, even if Democrats perform strongly. In the 2024 election, Republicans won 10 out of the 14 congressional seats, with each Republican candidate winning by a double digit margin—making it exceedingly difficult for Democrats to flip those districts (Brennan Center). The only competitive race was in the first district, where the incumbent Don Davis narrowly beat his Republican challenger by just 1.7 percentage points.
Take a look at the three approved maps below:
The Republican Party received 49.4% of the total vote, and won eight seats. The Democratic Party received 50.0% of the total vote, and won five seats (Vox).
The court-created map resulted in 7 Republican seats and 7 Democratic seats. The Republicans won 52.03% of the total vote, the Democrats 47.73%.
The 2024 map resulted in Republicans gaining three new House seats. The Republican party won the total vote by 52.78%, the Democrats with 42.80%.
A Loser is Born
After three congressional maps in just three years, North Carolinians are exhausted. And when Kate Barr’s community of Davidson was redrawn in 2023 from a predominantly blue district to a solidly red one, she knew she had to speak out against the widespread harm caused by gerrymandering.
“It’s basically like when representatives choose their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives”
Knowing she was bound to lose from the start, Barr embraced her campaign with unapologetic authenticity. She swore, shared memes on social media, and showed up to events in glitter and hot pink campaign t-shirts. She related to the people she met on a deeper level. She spoke casually, explaining how gerrymandering affects voters without using any political jargon. Her unfiltered approach resonated with voters and supporters nationwide.
Kate Barr snaps a photo of her daughter, Winnie, at the Mooresville Pride Parade on Oct. 12, 2024. “My daughter, who's eight, is incredibly curious about what we're doing and why, and we spend a lot of car rides talking about gerrymandering,” said Barr.
After being featured in The Washington Post, donations poured in from across the country. Barr shipped campaign signs far beyond North Carolina’s District 37, to hundreds of supporters who couldn’t even vote for her. But to her, every yard sign, social media post, and conversation was an opportunity to amplify her message about the dangers of gerrymandering.
Despite knowing she would lose, Barr dedicated every spare moment she had outside of her 9 to 5 to Democratic campaign events, canvassing her district, and driving voter turnout She quickly became a symbol of hope for local Democratic leaders and built connections with voters across the political spectrum.
When early voting began, Barr made her rounds at polling sites throughout her county, particularly in Republican strongholds. She wanted to show voters that the Democratic Party was there with them. Alongside the Iredell Democrats, she handed out friendship bracelets, encouraged voters to take photos with a cardboard cutout of Kamala Harris, and blasted Taylor Swift, all while engaging voters in conversations about how gerrymandering dilutes the power of their vote.
Kate Barr and volunteers for the Iredell Democratic Party wait to congratulate voters outside of the polls on Nov. 2, 2024.
Even though Barr ran as a Democrat, she firmly believes that gerrymandering is a non-partisan issue. “One of the most insidious parts of gerrymandering is that we have so many uncontested races,” said Barr. Uncontested races further divide communities in an already fragmented political landscape. Barr argues that they create one-sided local politics that do not reflect the country at large.
“If we have fair maps, if we have more competitive races, we will have more people in our country who understand and live the experience of being a purple country, where both outcomes are possible, where there are people who are Democrats and there are people who are Republicans”
Winning Isn’t Everything
Unfortunately for some of her more hopeful supporters, Kate Barr did exactly what she set out to do on election night: lose. But despite the incumbent winning by over 29 percentage points, Barr managed to flip 556 votes. For Barr, this small victory signals the success of running unwinnable campaigns.
Immediately after her loss, Barr launched the Can’t Win Victory Fund, which will train “cant-idates” to run in gerrymandered districts. Barr recognizes that losing “is not an awesome feeling”, and hopes that having a support system of other “cant-idates” will encourage more community members to enter into local politics.
Kate Barr and her daughter, Winnie, prepare to march in the Mooresville Pride Parade on Oct. 12, 2024
There is a long journey ahead for Democrats to enact balanced voting maps in North Carolina, and it all centers on regaining the majority on the State Supreme Court. In 2026, Justice Anita Earls must be reelected. In 2028, three new justices will have to be elected in order to gain the majority. And then, finally, in 2030, the court would be able to enact a fair voting map.
While Barr never envisions herself actually holding office, she hopes that she can continue to inspire and mentor future “cant-ididates”. For Barr, it’s not about winning or losing, rather, it’s ensuring that our political system is fair to everyone. “There are things that are wrong, and when they’re wrong, we stand up against them,” says Barr. “It doesn’t matter if you can win or not.”