The North Carolina Senate started moving a new Congressional map on Monday, a key step towards Republicans securing an 11th safe seat among the state's delegation in U.S. Congress.
Proposed last week, the new map swaps 10 North Carolina counties and part of one more between districts to shift the balance of North Carolina's 1st Congressional District.
U.S. Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat, has won that district in two consecutive elections. Under the existing Congressional map, it is widely considered the only district in North Carolina where both Republicans and Democrats have a reasonable chance at winning an election.
Last week, legislative Republicans announced that they were embarking on gerrymandering with the goal of securing an 11th safe seat for the party in order to protect President Donald Trump's agenda. That comes amid a nationwide push by the Trump Administration to secure seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to stave off the losses that a sitting President's party typically suffers in midterm elections.
Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, remained clear about that intent during a Monday morning meeting of the N.C. Senate Elections Committee.
"Republicans hold a razor-thin margin in the United States House of Representatives. And if Democrats flip four seats in the upcoming midterm elections, they will take control of the House and torpedo President Trump’s agenda," Hise said.
Hise was introducing Senate Bill 249, the legislative vehicle for the proposed new map.
Democrats insisted Monday that the map has an undue impact on Black voters in the state's 1st District.
"This is a calculated move to weaken Black voter representation by splitting and diluting Black communities," Sen. Gladys Robinson, D-Guilford, said on the Senate floor.
The Senate Elections Committee approved the new map Monday morning.
Later in the day, Senate Bill 249 passed a second reading in the Senate by a 25-20 margin along party lines. All 20 Democrats in the Senate filed formal protests to the new map on Monday.
Introducing her protest, Sen. Kandie Smith, D-Pitt, said, "These maps are a political weapon, and Black voters are the target. This bill, and these maps, are designed to fracture historic coalitions, diminish voter turnout and protect incumbents at the expense of the will of the people."
The bill must receive a third reading in the Senate, which is expected to occur Tuesday, before the House can consider it.
New Congressional map proposal
The proposed map would move six full counties (Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde and Pamlico) and part of Onslow County's Swansboro precinct from North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District into the 1st Congressional district.
Lawmakers are also proposing moving Greene, Lenoir, Wayne and Wilson counties from the 1st District to the 3rd District.
The goal, Hise said Monday, was to use past election results to reduce some of the GOP's advantage in the 3rd District to give it a great advantage in the 1st District.
"We took districts that were a 60% Donald Trump performance and a 51% Donald Trump and tried to move those to even districts, towards 55. I think we got them to 56-54," Hise said.
Hise said the new map was drawn between Monday and Thursday last week in a conference room near his Legislative Office Building office. Hise also said that he had not had any conversations with President Trump, administration officials or other outside political figures regarding the new map.
At points last week, there was a rumor that Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, was pursuing the new map in exchange for a Trump endorsement in his anticipated primary with longtime Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.
Asked about that rumor Monday, Berger said, "No, that's a ridiculous accusation. Unfounded, unsupported and simply not true."
A racial gerrymander?
Under existing maps, the 1st Congressional District has a higher proportion of Black voters than any other in North Carolina, with 40.42%.
That would drop to 32.34% under the proposed map, with the proportion of Black voters in the 3rd Congressional District increasing to about 29%.
That fact played a major role in Monday's debate, with Democrats arguing that the new map will prevent Black voters in Eastern North Carolina from being able to select a Congressman of their choice.
Robinson asked Hise, "Did you consider that you diluted the representation of a Black population in terms of having a representative that is actually a person of their choice?"
Hise insisted that he and others who drew the new map did not consider racial data or implications on different racial groups when they were moving district lines.
"You do know that there are only three Black representatives (from North Carolina) in Congress? Aren't you aware of that?" Robinson asked.
"I'm aware it's a low number," Hise said.
Robinson chuckled and said, "OK. You made it a low number."
The 1st District holds particular importance to Black voters in North Carolina, Sen. Val Applewhite, D-Cumberland, said during debate on the floor Monday.
When Eva Clayton won the First District in 1992, she became the first Black person to hold a North Carolina Congressional seat since 1898. Clayton was succeeded by Frank Ballance and then by G.K. Butterfield, who would go on to chair the Congressional Black Caucus.
Davis won the seat in 2022, when Butterfield retired.
"The so-called Black Belt of North Carolina has long been a cornerstone of Black political power and rural representation. By dismantling this district, Republicans aren't just redrawing lines. They are erasing history, silencing voices and turning their back on decades of progress," Applewhite said.
The debate about whether the new map has an outsized impact on Black voters likely offers the only path to a widely expected lawsuit challenging the new map.
Asked about potential legal action, Berger said, "Every map we've passed results in a lawsuit."
Both the state and federal Supreme Courts have decided they lack the power to overturn maps that are gerrymandered on a politically partisan basis. But they can decide if a map represents a racial gerrymander.
Hise, for his part, insisted Monday that he is confident the state's new Congressional map would withstand legal challenges.
"We have seen no indication that any part of our maps don't (comply) with federal law," Hise said.
Drawing new maps in NC
Unless directed to do so by a court, North Carolina lawmakers typically only draw maps at the beginning of a decade, when new U.S. Census results are available.
That doesn't mean redistricting is rare, though. Since 2016, state and federal courts have directed the General Assembly to draw five additional maps based on partisan or racial gerrymandering decisions.
The existing congressional map is an exception because the General Assembly chose to draw it after the expiration of a court order that led to the 2022 elections resulting in seven Democrats and seven Republicans among the state's Congressional delegation.
During an exchange with Robinson, Hise said, "This is fully within our Constitutional authority, and we are exercising it. The President can make requests and supports and others, but we're making the choice to move forward."
Monday's Senate Elections Committee meeting saw dozens of people speak against the map, with nobody speaking in favor of its passage. That had no impact on the result of votes later in the day.
Asked if he believes passing the map after so many spoke against it undermines the public's confidence in the process, Berger said, "I don't know that that's a scientific sample of the views of the people of North Carolina. Again, last year, less than a year ago, the people of North Carolina voted for President Trump, supported the policies that President Trump advanced. I think that's still the case."
Although the Senate must still approve the map in a third reading, the N.C. House Select Committee on Redistricting is set to take it up Tuesday afternoon.
If the map is approved in the full House, where Republicans hold a wide majority, they will become law barring a legal challenge. Under North Carolina law, Gov. Josh Stein does not have the veto power over redistricting.
