Republican lawmakers in North Carolina plan to pass a new congressional map to help the GOP maintain its control over Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.
North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) announced an agreement between state House and Senate leaders to redraw the state’s congressional districts to yield an additional Republican representative from North Carolina.
“President 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,” Hall said in a statement Monday.
There’s little to stand in their way. Passing a new congressional map requires only a simple majority vote in both chambers of the General Assembly, and Republicans hold majorities in both. The new districts are not subject to Stein’s veto. Judicial action is also unlikely, as both the U.S. Supreme Court and North Carolina Supreme Court have held that partisan gerrymandering falls outside of their purview.
Hall cited efforts by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to overturn independent maps in his state to create more Democratic seats, which itself came in response to redistricting at President Donald Trump’s urging in Texas and Missouri.
“Our state won’t stand by while Democrats like Gavin Newsom redraw districts to aid in their efforts to obtain a majority in the U.S. House,” Hall said. “We will not allow them to undermine the will of the voters and President Trump’s agenda.”
Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) – who first floated the idea of a new map last month – said protecting Trump’s agenda requires “safeguarding Republican control of Congress.”
“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,” he said.
House Democratic Leader Robert Reives (D-Chatham) said in a statement that the Republican effort is tantamount to “stealing a congressional district.” He condemned the state GOP for making a rapid push for new maps while failing to fully fund Medicaid.
“Republican lawmakers made clear today that they plan to come back to Raleigh and disenfranchise the voters of this state,” Reives said. “Instead of lowering costs for families or ensuring Medicaid can stay afloat, they are hellbent on consolidating as much power as they can.”
“The General Assembly works for North Carolina, not Donald Trump,” said Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, adding that Republican leaders have “failed to pass a budget, failed to pay our teachers and law enforcement what they deserve, and failed to fully fund Medicaid. Now they are failing you, the voters. These shameless politicians are abusing their power to take away yours.”
North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton denounced Berger and Hall directly and said the redistricting effort was “corruption” aimed at shielding Trump from voter backlash.
“North Carolina Republicans Phil Berger and Destin Hall are weak, subservient cowards, willing to steamroll the people of our state so they can give Donald Trump what he wants — power without accountability,” she said. “Let me be clear: maps should not give you power; voters should.”
North Carolina’s congressional map already heavily favors Republicans, with 53 percent of the congressional vote giving Republicans a 10-4 majority in the House delegation. Only Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.) holds a competitive seat, winning by less than 2 percent of the vote in the state’s 1st Congressional District in 2024.
The announcement comes weeks after a poll commissioned by Common Cause North Carolina found 84 percent of voters in the state oppose gerrymandering, including 78 percent of Republicans.
Melissa Price Kromm, chair of voter advocacy group North Carolina For The People, criticized the move as harmful to voters, calling instead for systemic reform and redistricting led by independent commissions.
“These new redistricting wars aren’t about fairness; they’re about power,” she said in a statement. “Every time politicians redraw maps to cling to power, trust in our democracy erodes.”
Kromm said “it’s telling” that House and Senate Republicans are able to come to a speedy agreement on redistricting while failing to pass a state budget. “They’re prioritizing power over people, again,” she said.
“We just redistricted for the second time last cycle. So every two years is the theory that we’re gonna redistrict, so we can maximize the political advantage to stick it to one party and enhance another party?” Stein said. “We cannot get into this maximalist political power worldview because it will destroy this country.”
This article appears courtesy of our media partner NC Newsline.
