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North Carolina Republicans could vote as soon as Tuesday to finalize a new congressional map that aims to protect the GOP’s slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives — a move expected to happen amid a backdrop of protests led by Democrats and anti-gerrymandering advocates.
The state Senate approved the map with a 25-20 vote Monday that came down purely along party lines. A final vote, mostly a formality, is scheduled in the Senate Tuesday morning. The map would then head to the state House, also controlled by Republicans, for what’s expected to be another series of party-line approvals. If the map holds, it would become law.
Democrats are essentially powerless to stop the map from becoming law. It requires only a simple majority of votes since the governor in North Carolina, currently Democrat Josh Stein, isn’t allowed to veto any new maps. Democrats are hoping their protests — whether in fiery remarks from lawmakers inside the chamber or from demonstrators outside — will help sway public opinion.
Multiple Democratic state Senators on Monday accused their Republican colleagues of racism as the chamber’s GOP majority advanced the new districts. The map would eliminate the state’s only competitive district — currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis — by carving up a part of eastern North Carolina with a large Black population. Republicans said they were drawn without the aid of outside political operatives and without racial data or motivations.
Republicans said they relied only on political data, not racial data, to draw the map. They said they were drawing it specifically because Republican President Donald Trump has called on GOP-led states to gerrymander their congressional maps as much as possible ahead of the 2026 elections, when Democrats have been hoping to flip control of the U.S. House.
A U.S. House majority requires 218 seats in the chamber. Republicans currently hold 219 seats, and the president’s political party almost always loses seats during midterm elections. North Carolina is represented by 14 members in the U.S. House — 10 Republicans and four Democrats. The newly proposed map has 11 districts that lean Republican and three Democratic-leaning districts.
“The president asked that legislatures look at their maps and determine whether or not it’s possible to add additional individuals [to the U.S. House] that would support the agenda that the president has advanced,” state Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters Monday. “The people of North Carolina, on three separate occasions, have voted [in favor of Trump]. And it is something that is an appropriate thing for us to do.”
Trump won the 2024 presidential election with 49.8% of the vote nationwide, including 50.9% in North Carolina.
The new map would all but guarantee a GOP victory in Davis’s district in any election, except for a major Democratic wave, according to data provided by Republican lawmakers. Trump in 2024 likely would’ve won more than 55% of the vote in the new version of the district, substantially higher than his statewide margin of victory.
To turn Davis’ district red, the new map would swap some more diverse and politically competitive counties he represents, including Wilson and Wayne, with some more heavily conservative counties currently represented by Rep. Greg Murphy, a Greenville Republican. Murphy’s district would still favor Republican candidates but would be more competitive in the future.
The map also carves Davis’ house in Snow Hill out of his district, placing it in Murphy’s district. Members of Congress don’t have to live in their districts, so that wouldn’t necessarily stop Davis from running for reelection.
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