NC Republicans pass new congressional districts into law to boost GOP edge in U.S. House races

North Carolina lawmakers gave final approval to a new congressional map, a victory for Republicans in the state legislature and beyond who have sought to increase the GOP’s advantage in races for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026.

The North Carolina House of Representatives approved the map in a party-line vote Wednesday, following another party-line vote in the state Senate Tuesday. The decision means the new districts become law. Redistricting bills don't require the governor's approval, and the governor can't veto such measures.

The approval came as protesters chanted “Don’t rig the maps!” from the House gallery before being removed. Hundreds of protesters marched on the legislature this week, and dozens of members of the public spoke in opposition during hearings. Every speaker during public comment sessions spoke against the idea.

The redistricting is part of a broader national strategy — urged by Republican President Donald Trump — to help Republicans maintain a narrow majority in the U.S. House as Democrats look to flip seats in the 2026 midterm elections. 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.

Trump has therefore called on GOP-controlled states such as North Carolina to draw voting boundaries that help elect more Republicans to the U.S. House, and the state’s lawmakers obliged.

North Carolina's new map gives Republicans an advantage in 11 of the state's 14 congressional seats, up from 10. The new map eliminates the state’s only competitive district, turning it into a GOP-leaning seat. Republican legislative leaders said the move supports the will of North Carolinians who voted for Trump in three presidential elections, adding that they deserve to see his agenda advance. They also said the new district helps defend against the possibility of similar actions in states led by Democrats.

“We’re here today because California and the radical left launched a full-fledged attack, not only on North Carolina, but on democracy itself,” said House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, R-Columbus.

Gavin Newsom, California's Democratic governor, has said he wants to redraw his state’s map to gerrymander some Republicans out of power — to counter maps drawn in Texas, Utah and Missouri to push Democrats out of power. But California has not redrawn its maps ahead of 2026, nor has any other Democratic-led state.

"We commend our legislative leaders on their effort to jump into the fray to stop Gavin Newsom and California Democrats from stealing control of Congress from President Trump and Republicans," Matt Mercer, a spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party, said in a statement.

State Rep. Dante Pittman, who represents one of the areas being carved up in the proposed congressional map, criticized the map, telling Republicans: “My hometown is not just a place to be conquered."

“What started as a political power play in Texas has turned into a national redistricting war, and my home and my people have been drug into the middle of it,” said Pittman, D-Wilson. “This action is further dividing a deeply divided nation.”

Opposition and lawsuits

After the approval Wednesday, lawmakers released thousands of write-in comments from the public, received over the past week at the invitation of Republican mapmakers. The overwhelming majority of respondents opposed the redistricting, including dozens of self-described Republicans. A smattering of supporters praised the move.

Opponents have little immediate recourse since state law prevents North Carolina’s governor, currently Democrat Josh Stein, from vetoing redistricting bills. Opponents are expected to challenge the map in court.

Democrats have called the maps illegal gerrymanders and they have accused Republicans of racism because the effort targets one of the state's few Black members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Don Davis, whose district has a high percentage of Black voters.

Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, a chairman on the Senate elections committee who drew the map, has said multiple times that racial data wasn’t used to create the boundaries. He said Senators were careful not to use race in drawing the proposed districts to protect the states from lawsuits strictly to protect the state from lawsuits alleging illegal racial gerrymandering.

Nevertheless, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who has led past anti-gerrymandering litigation in the past, said Wednesday that the new districts would be challenged in court. “The Tar Heel state is a purple, 50-50 state,” Holder said in a statement. “But the state’s congressional and state legislative maps are decidedly not. This additional gerrymander goes even further and denies black voters equal representation, dismantling—with surgical precision—a district where they have long had the opportunity to express their political desires.”

Social advocacy group Repairers of the Breach, meanwhile, plans to announce a legal challenge related to the new map on Thursday. “We will fight back in the courts, in the streets, and at the ballot box,” Bishop William J. Barber II, the president of the group, said in a statement.

The new map would eliminate the state's only competitive district by carving up a part of eastern North Carolina that has been represented by a Black Democrat since 1993, Davis being the latest.

It 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. Trump won 50.9% of the vote in North Carolina in 2024.

To turn Davis' district red, the new map swaps 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.

“Since the start of this new term, my office has received 46,616 messages from constituents of different political parties, including those unaffiliated, expressing a range of opinions, views, and requests," Davis said in a statement. "Not a single one of them included a request for a new congressional map redrawing eastern North Carolina. Clearly, this new congressional map is beyond the pale."

'Trump has a mandate'

Democrats and other opponents also accused Republican lawmakers of circumventing democratic processes — and of turning over the state’s power to the federal government by rushing to do Trump’s bidding.

Republicans acknowledged that the move is purely politics. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, says it’s an opportunity to maximize Republican control of the state — something he says is justified because the state has voted to elect Trump in three elections. A few public-comment respondents wrote short notes to lawmakers supporting that justification.

“We have an opportunity to continue our President's agenda, and you must proceed at all costs,” William Morris wrote to lawmakers. “Thank you for your efforts, and we will be watching the fight we expect from ultra liberals.”

“President Trump has a mandate from the voters of NC,” wrote Lori Willis. “...We need a larger majority in the House to accomplish the goals set forth in his election campaign.”

Added Jacob Moore: “Let us continue to help President Trump with his MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN mandate by passing this new congressional map!”

Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin, agreed with that sentiment and said Wednesday that he’s happy to do whatever Trump asks.

"In my opinion, he's the greatest president of my lifetime,” said Dixon, 80. “He's not my king, and I don't think he wants to be your king. I've witnessed divine intervention in preserving his life. He is a divinely changed man who loves this nation. I support the constitutional authority of this legislature to legally redraw our congressional districts.”

Wilson braces for change

Outside Parker’s Barbecue restaurant in Wilson, Patricia Chatman lamented the change because it could mean the end of a decades-long run of northeastern North Carolina being represented by a Black Democrat.

“I think it’s unfair,” said Chatman, 63, a nurse’s assistant who has lived in Wilson her entire life. The city would be removed from Davis’s district under the new map.

“It should be split evenly, I think,” Chatham said. “And give the people a choice to make.”

Janice Savage, another life-long Wilson area resident, added: “We need somebody behind us. Be in there, make sure we get right, get justice, everything we need.”

Aubrey Nichols, however, thinks GOP representation in Wilson would make more sense. Democratic candidates have had an edge in the county for the past three presidential elections. But the margins of victory have dwindled each year for some federal seats.

“I think it’s leaning more conservative than it is liberal,” said Nichols, 82, who lives in Wilson. “So I’m probably pretty satisfied with the way it is right now.”

WRAL News reporters Shaun Gallagher, Eric Miller and Paul Specht contributed to this article.