WASHINGTON, D.C. (WNCN) — As states across the country look to redraw their congressional maps to benefit the political party in control, the North Carolina congressman affected by these changes is taking action to bring the maps back to the way they were before.
Rep. Don Davis introduced the Restoring Electoral Stability to Enhance Trust (RESET) Act of 2025, a bill intended to ban mid-decade redistricting legislation and ensure redistricting only happens after constitutionally required censuses at the beginning of each decade, his office said Tuesday.
According to Davis’ office, mid-decade redistricting will be permitted if it is mandated by an independent redistricting commission created by the state constitution, a court order or a state referendum.
The bill also allows for mid-decade redistricting if a court rules a state-drawn map is unconstitutional based on the Voting Rights Act. Additionally, if a court creates a new map after ruling the previous one was unconstitutional, a state legislature will have the opportunity to pass a map of its own.
If the RESET Act becomes law, according to Davis’ office, it will ban state-initiated mid-decade redistricting as of 2020, bringing North Carolina’s and other states’ congressional maps back to how they were drawn before the 2022 midterms. It will also prevent future redistricting ahead of the midterms in 2026.
“While families across America are struggling to get by due to costs and slow job growth, politicians are choosing power over people,” Davis said in a statement. “The only solution to prevent this ongoing domino-redistricting effect and power struggle between different states is to immediately hit reset. We must work to restore electoral stability to enhance trust.”
Davis, a Democrat who represents the 1st congressional district, introduced the bill after the Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly approved a new map to make his district favorable to the GOP.
State Republicans said they redrew the map to protect President Donald Trump’s agenda by adding another member of their party to Congress.
North Carolina’s congressional map was previously redrawn in 2023 while the state’s 14 districts were split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. The map allowed Republicans to gain four additional seats in the 2024 election, while Davis was given the only competitive district in the state.
The current map is expected to increase the number of Republican-held U.S. House seats in North Carolina to 11 and decrease Democrats’ seats to three.
Matthew Sockol
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