Lawmakers gear up for hearings on proposed Congressional map redraw

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — A battle is brewing on Jones Street as lawmakers are gearing up for the public to weigh in on new maps designed to give Republicans an advantage, sparking criticism over gerrymandering.

Republicans already control 10 out of North Carolina’s 14 seats in North Carolina after the last map redraw, and with this latest change, they would seek to get to 11 seats, leaving Democrats with just three seats.

The NCGOP communications director said GOP NC House and Senate leaders are making the change to help President Donald Trump. They say they got involved after California Democrats decided to change their maps to help Democrats, in response to Texas Republicans changing their maps before that.

“Both sides are doing it. There’s no reason not to back up President Trump in a state that he won three times in order for him to keep delivering on his agenda,” said communications director Matt Mercer.

The new maps target Democratic Congressman Don Davis by shifting his 1st District seat in northeastern North Carolina.

In doing that, they replaced more Democratic-leaning areas with heavily Republican counties on the coast to shift his district from a swing seat to one favoring Republicans.

It also removed Davis’ home in Greene County from the district altogether, along with Wilson County, which had been part of the district for years, something Wilson State Rep. Dante Pittman, a Democrat, argued takes away from fair representation.

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“This is all because Texas decided to come in and do mid-decade redistricting on their own, and now we have this national partisan redistricting war going on, and I just resent the fact that they have come to my home community and messing with my people, getting us in the middle of it,” he said.

Longtime Congressman G.K. Butterfield, the Wilson Democrat who represented the seat for 18 years from 2004-2022, also weighed in, saying the new lines go against anything he’s seen in North Carolina.

“This map is unacceptable, this is a political and racial gerrymander and gerrymander unlike anything that we have seen in modern history,” says Butterfield.

He said the 1st District was originally drawn in its current form to give Black North Carolinians a fair chance at a voice in Congress.

While partisan gerrymanders have been upheld by courts, he said he believes the new maps would also violate the Voting Rights Act by gerrymandering based on race

“I expect lawsuits to take place very quickly. And just maybe, just maybe, a federal judge or even the appellate court will hit the pause button and allow a trial to take place. Next year, on the legality of this brazen attempt to arbitrarily change the congressional map,” Butterfield said.

But as more and more states get involved, some are hoping it will lead to national reforms so lines are drawn fairly.

“Do the citizens of North Carolina want fair elections, and fair elections in this context means the government can’t rig the outcome, and I think that’s pretty simple,” said retired state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr.

There is a Senate hearing on Monday, and a House hearing on Tuesday, and public comment is open before a vote on those maps. Both Butterfield and former Democratic Congresswoman Eva Clayton, who also represented the 1st District, will be in Raleigh to voice their opinions on the new maps.