North Carolina GOP announce plans to vote on new House map amid nationwide redistricting battle

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican legislative leaders announced plans Monday to vote next week on redrawing the state’s U.S. House district map, making theirs the latest state to embrace President Donald Trump’s call to secure more GOP seats nationwide and resist rival moves by Democrats.

The push to retool already right-leaning boundaries for the ninth-largest state comes amid an emerging mid-decade battle nationally between the major parties seeking advantage in the way House districts are drawn in several states for the 2026 midterm elections.

North Carolina Republicans already created a map in 2023 that resulted in GOP candidates winning 10 of the state’s 14 U.S. House seats in 2024. That division compared to the 7-7 seat split between Democrats and the GOP under the map used in 2022.

Now only one of the House districts –- the 1st District currently represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis –- is considered a true swing district and could be targeted by the GOP for an 11th seat. Davis won a second term last year by less than 2 percentage points, so shifting slightly portions of the district covering nearly 20 northeastern counties could help a Republican candidate in a strong GOP year.

A news release from the state’s top Republican legislators said their planned action follows Trump’s “call urging legislatures across the country to take action to nullify Democrat redistricting efforts.” Davis wasn’t mentioned by name.

Trump “earned a clear mandate from the voters of North Carolina and the rest of the country, and we intend to defend it by drawing an additional Republican Congressional seat,” House Speaker Destin Hal said in the release. Trump has won North Carolina’s electoral votes all three times that he’s been on the presidential ballot.

But state House Democratic leader Robert Reives said Monday his GOP colleagues “are stealing a congressional district in order to shield themselves from accountability at the ballot box.”

Trump kickstarted the national redistricting battle this summer by calling upon Republican-led Texas to reshape its U.S. House districts so that the GOP could win more seats in next year’s elections.

After overcoming a Democratic walkout, Texas lawmakers redrew the state’s congressional districts to give Republicans a shot at winning five more seats.

Democrats in California reciprocated by passing their own redistricting plan aimed at helping Democrats win five additional seats. Then lawmakers in Republican-led Missouri approved revised U.S. House districts intended to help Republicans win an additional seat there.

Other states also are considering redistricting, including Republican-led Indiana and Kansas.

Some North Carolina GOP lawmakers focused complaints Monday on California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who advanced his state’s redistricting effort.

“Picking up where Texas left off, we will hold votes in our October session to redraw North Carolina’s congressional map to ensure Gavin Newsom doesn’t decide the congressional majority,” Senate leader Phil Berger said.

North Carolina lawmakers already had planned to return to Raleigh on Oct. 20 for a session lasting up to four days. Republicans hold majorities in both General Assembly chambers and redistricting plans aren’t subject to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s veto stamp. Candidate filing for 2026 is supposed to begin Dec. 1.

The redistricting battle comes ahead of an intensely competitive midterm election in which Democrats need to gain just three seats to take control of the House. The president’s party historically has lost seats in midterm elections, a fate Trump is trying to avoid. A Democratic takeover could impede Trump’s agenda and lead to investigations of his actions, as occurred during his first term in office.

If and how North Carolina legislators create a more favorable redraw may depend on the result of pending litigation filed by the state NAACP, Common Cause and voters challenging several current congressional districts. They accuse Republican lawmakers of racially discriminating against Black voters by splitting or packing their voting blocs to help GOP candidates win. The trial ended in July without an immediate ruling.

U.S. House districts typically are redrawn once a decade, after a census. But some states have no prohibition on doing it more frequently. And the U.S. Supreme Court has said there is no federal prohibition on political gerrymandering, in which districts are intentionally drawn to favor one party.

Opponents have filed lawsuits alleging Texas’ latest redistricting unconstitutionally dilutes the votes of minority residents and that Missouri’s mid-decade redistricting isn’t allowed under the state constitution.

The California map still needs voter approval in a Nov. 4 election to take effect. And the Missouri map also faces a petition campaign seeking to force a statewide referendum on it.

Utah’s Republican-led Legislature also recently endorsed an altered congressional map — though in response to a court order, not Trump’s demands. A Utah judge struck down the House districts adopted after the 2020 census because the Republican-led Legislature circumvented an independent redistricting commission established by voters.

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Associated Press writers David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri and Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan contributed to this report.

Gary D. Robertson, The Associated Press