Final documents are due Tuesday in two federal lawsuits challenging North Carolina’s congressional and legislative maps drawn in 2023 and used in 2024, which challengers say diluted the voting power of Black voters.
While North Carolina does not currently face the same redistricting efforts as Texas, which resulted in Democratic revolt, the federal lawsuits, if successful, could lead to new redistricting efforts in the Tar Heel state.
The deadline comes the day after GOP U.S. Senate candidate and current Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley said on Fox News Monday that redistricting efforts are “part of the process.”
“Obviously, there are a lot of skirmishes that we’re going to see with redistricting around the country, and that’s just part of the process, but when it comes to it, when we’re talking about the Senate races, it’s not about redistricting,” Whatley said.
Redistricting is in the national spotlight as Texas Republicans work to redraw congressional boundaries to add five districts into its advantage. The GOP can only afford to lose three seats in the midterms to retain control of the chamber, and adding districts favorable to its party could offset any losses elsewhere in a cycle expected, historically, to favor Democrats who are out of power in Washington D.C.
North Carolina state Republican lawmakers redrew maps in 2023, after the state Supreme Court reversed a high court decision that found GOP legislators had violated the state Constitution because the maps they had drawn showed excessive partisanship, according to WUNC.
One of the plaintiffs, Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, said in early July that the redrawn maps were gerrymandered and “racially discriminatory” after those same maps helped the GOP turn the state delegation into a 10-4 majority from a 7-7 split.
“We see this as yet another example of racially discriminatory, gerrymandered maps that harm minority voters for the intentional purpose of strengthening the majority party’s numbers both in the legislature and Congress,” Phillips said at the time.
The lawsuits claim Republican lawmakers used redistricting to break up Black voters in Greensboro, High Points, Winston Salem, and Wilmington, by adding Black districts to conservative areas, a practice known as “cracking.”
“So, it is a very peculiar manipulation of the maps that is clearly weakening the voting strength of Black voters in downtown Wilmington,” Phillips said.
The defendants, however, argue that during the redistricting process, partisanship was considered, not race.
The case will be considered by a panel of three judges. Plaintiffs are hoping for a ruling finding Republican lawmakers violated minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.
If new district maps are ordered, they will need to be completed before the beginning of candidate filings in December.
