On Wednesday, Oct. 22, the NC House and Senate passed a new congressional map that would effectively eliminate the district of one of the state’s four Democratic congressional representatives, locking down the seat for the Republican Party. This is the fourth set of congressional maps the state has drawn and enacted since 2020.
The newly passed map redraws North Carolina’s 1st congressional district, currently occupied by Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.). It would dilute Davis’s Democratic voting constituency by encompassing the surrounding conservative-leaning counties. This would draw in voters who voted for President Trump by a higher margin in the 2024 presidential election.
The 1st is currently the only “competitive” congressional district under the makeup of the 2023 maps, and its elimination would effectively guarantee Republicans complete control of the state’s 11 of the 14 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans attempted to eliminate Davis’s seat in their 2023 map, but he still won reelection in 2024 by just two percentage points. President Donald Trump won the whole state in 2024 by just under 200,000 votes.
State Republicans embrace Trump’s call for redistricting
“The #NCGA is ready to help Republicans secure Congress and move @realDonaldTrump’s agenda forward!” Senate leader Phil Berger wrote on social media following the map’s unveiling.
Berger is facing a potential primary by Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. Trump has yet to endorse Berger’s reelection — or his challenger.
Republicans are moving to redraw the state’s map in response to a broader push by Trump to encourage Republican legislatures to engage in mid-cycle redistricting. These efforts would secure more Republican seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“President Trump earned a clear mandate from the voters of North Carolina and the rest of the country, and we intend to defend it by drawing an additional Republican Congressional seat,” House Speaker Destin Hall said in a statement.
Gov. Stein, courts won’t be able to intervene
In North Carolina, the maps would only need a simple majority in both chambers to become law. Under state law, the Governor cannot veto congressional maps. This law was introduced by Gov. Stein’s predecessor, Roy Cooper, when he was a state legislator.
In a press release, Governor Stein sharply criticized the General Assembly for prioritizing the apparent partisan gerrymander over working on other priorities.
“The General Assembly works for North Carolina, not Donald Trump. The Republican leadership in the General Assembly has failed to pass a budget, failed to pay our teachers and law enforcement what they deserve, and failed to fully fund Medicaid,” Stein said.
Earlier this month, a federal judge rejected claims of racial gerrymandering in the state’s 2023 congressional maps. The NC 1st was also in dispute in that suit.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court reheard oral arguments in Louisiana v. Callais. If the court’s conservative justices don’t uphold Louisiana’s map, the decision will enable further mid-cycle redistricting in other states. Estimates suggest up to 19 seats could be drawn in favor of the Republicans as a result.
The legality of mid-cycle redistricting in North Carolina is unclear. The Supreme Court ceded federal courts’ ability to hear partisan gerrymandering claims in 2019 in a case involving another set of North Carolina Republican-drawn congressional maps.
