North Carolina Republicans are moving swiftly to enact a new congressional district map, a mid-decade redistricting effort explicitly aimed at flipping a key swing seat and securing an 11-3 Republican majority in the state’s U.S. House delegation.
On Wednesday, the North Carolina legislature approved the new gerrymander.
This move, which comes amid a national flurry of partisan map-drawing, is poised to reshape the state’s political landscape for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, barring a successful legal challenge.
NC GOP Targets 1st Congressional District
The primary target of the redraw is the state’s 1st Congressional District, currently represented by Democratic Representative Don Davis.
Under the current map, the district was a narrow swing seat. However, the proposed changes, which involve swapping several inland counties for more reliably Republican coastal counties in the 3rd Congressional District, will dramatically shift the 1st District to the right.
Analysis of past statewide elections suggests the retooled district would strongly favor a Republican candidate, effectively making Davis’s reelection bid in 2026 significantly more challenging.
Republican legislative leaders have been candid about their intentions, stating the goal is simply to bring an additional Republican seat to the North Carolina congressional delegation.
They have framed the action as a necessary step to advance the Republican agenda in Congress and counter similar partisan redistricting efforts by Democrats in other states.
With Republicans holding strong majorities in both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly, and state law preventing Democratic Governor Josh Stein from vetoing redistricting plans, the map is expected to become law quickly.
Graphic: Renée Rigdon, CNN
Map move to dilute voting power of Black voters
The action has ignited a firestorm of opposition from Democrats and voting rights advocates, who decry the plan as a brazen political power grab.
Critics argue that the move, by altering a district that has consistently elected a Black representative for decades, dilutes the voting power of minority communities, particularly in the historically Black Belt region of Eastern North Carolina.
They allege that while Republicans claim the map was drawn without using racial data, the practical effect is an unlawful racial gerrymander, an assertion the GOP mapmakers deny.
This latest chapter of redistricting follows a period of significant back-and-forth legal battles over North Carolina’s maps. In 2022, a court-ordered map resulted in a 7-7 partisan split, but a subsequent Republican majority on the state Supreme Court reversed past rulings that limited partisan gerrymandering. This paved the way for the current 10-4 map used in 2024, and now, an 11-3 split.
While Democrats have acknowledged their limited power to stop the map legislatively, they have promised to challenge the new boundaries in court.
The ultimate success of the legal effort will likely hinge on the interpretation of voting rights law, particularly in relation to racial gerrymandering claims, a battleground that could ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court. For now, however, the Republican-advanced map is set to put another decisive stamp on North Carolina’s role in the national fight for control of the U.S. House.