The proposed district maps passed its final hurdle in the NC Senate on Tuesday with a vote of 26 to 20 in favor.
"Across the country, Democrat-run states have spent decades ensuring that Republicans would be drawn out of Congress," said Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham. "North Carolina Republicans will not sit quietly and watch Democrats continue to ignore the will of the people in an attempt to force their liberal agenda on our citizens. This new map respects the will of the North Carolina voters who sent President Trump to the White House three times."
Last week, Republicans publicly released a proposed map which institutes changes to District 1 and District 3, while leaving the other 12 districts untouched.
Democrat Don Davis won District 1 by less than 2% in 2024, the lone competitive Congressional race in the cycle. Republican Greg Murphy won District 3 by more than 55% in a race in which he did not face a Democratic challenger.
Based on 2024 voter data, the newly-drawn District 1 would move from an area that voted for Donald Trump at 51% to one that voted for Trump at 55%.
A battle for control
Senators on both sides of the aisle reaffirmed their positions and debated their points before the vote.
Senate Deputy President Pro Tempore Republican Ralph Hice addressed comments made on the Senate floor, including how race may have played a factor in how the congressional map was drawn.
"I will again completely state that there was no racial data used in these maps, and in fact, that is a verifiable fact. The computer can produce what the data said," said Hice.
Hice rejected those claims along with allegations that the new maps were drawn with the promise of an endorsement.
"The purpose of this map was to pick up a Republican seat. We've stated that over and over again. I think there's been a real attempt to try to say, because that's the only legal strategy left to say that it was done for other reasons. It was done for racial or done for others, and that simply doesn't hold any water," Hice said. "We designed these maps. We came up with these maps for the purpose of rebalancing this nation, rebalancing Congress, and making sure that North Carolina is as optimized as the other blue states were when they created their districts."
Under court-ordered maps in 2022, the state's Congressional delegation consisted of seven Republicans and seven Democrats. Republicans redrew maps for the 2024 cycle, leading three Democrats -- Jeff Jackson, Kathy Manning, and Wiley Nickel -- to not seek re-election. Republican leadership believes that under this proposed map, there could be 11 Republicans representing the state in the US House.
"Republicans hold a razor-thin margin in the United States House of Representatives. If Democrats flip four seats in the upcoming midterm elections, they will take control of the House and torpedo President Trump's agenda," said Hise.
Democratic senators explained why they believe the proposed congressional maps were drawn with race in mind. Democratic Sen. Kandie Smith, who represents Edgcombe and Pitt Counties, said that maps will affect black voters.
"When we go back to talking about we're not using anything racial, we're just going to move black people. But it's not racial? We're going to go to the black belt and make all of these suggestions that get a map. We could have made moves any other place, but we specifically chose that section in eastern North Carolina, " said Smith. "So we can change words, we can talk around words, we can move around and say all those things. People know the truth. They know what's happening right here. It is their job to elect us and not our job to feel like who we want to represent."
Hundreds rally against proposal
Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday to rally against redistricting in North Carolina.
"Gerrymandering in the state doesn't allow for competitive elections to even exist to begin with because it's already predetermined winners of who's going to come out in each congressional district. And what we want to see is a free and fair fight right now across North Carolina," said North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton.
NC not only state embroiled in redistricting battles
Republicans pointed to redistricting efforts in California, led by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, as the motivation behind their move.
"I've got bad news for Gavin Newsom and the radical left. North Carolina will not stand by while trying to be undermined the will of the voters and stack the deck in DC," said Republican Rep. Brenden Jones.
Stay on top of breaking news stories with the ABC11 News App
However, California is only putting redistricting on the ballot, not directly instituting new maps. Further, California's call for redistricting came after Republicans in Texas redrew maps.
On Tuesday, Texas State House Rep. Nicole Collier, a Democrat, traveled to Raleigh to speak with voters at the rally.
"It's going to impact the power of Black voters, just like it did in Texas. In Texas, the Black and brown collective vote has been reduced. And so I see it happening in here in North Carolina. And I'm just bothered by it," said Collier.
In response to a question during Tuesday's House Select Committee on Redistricting about the history of redrawing maps, Hise said the issue predates this year.
"I think (Texas is) a really convenient place to kind of put your line and where you want to draw and not look at the results of what was drawn for the 2022 Congressional maps, where states like New Mexico, Connecticut, Massachusetts drew their maps to not elect any Republicans," said Hise.
Diluting black voter influence?
Democrats argued the newly-drawn District 1 dilutes the power of Black voters.
"You're trying to dismantle the district with the largest record of Black Congressional leadership in North Carolina history. And that's just not right. Your constituents are listening to you today. I certainly hope you listen," said Congresswoman Alma Adams, a Democrat who represents District 12, a district so gerrymandered by Democrats in the 1990s that it's been called the "notorious District 12." The Supreme Court eventually ruled it an illegal racial gerrymander, citing its bizarre, snake-like shape stretching from the Triad to Charlotte.
Eva Clayton, the first Black woman to represent North Carolina in the US House, spoke at a news conference Tuesday and during public comment in the House Select Committee on Redistricting.
"It was from 1901 until 1992, 91 years, that a Black citizen happened to be elected. It happened to be myself. The North Carolina General Assembly appears ready now to make it almost impossible for a black citizen to be elected again from North Carolina's northeastern area," said Clayton, who represented District 1.
Before the House Select Committee on Redistricting voted on the measure, some members of the public who spoke during public comment began chanting in opposition to the maps, leading them to be escorted out of the room. A similar scene played out the day before during the Senate Election Committee meeting, taking up the same measure.
'Red states do it, blue states do it'
On Tuesday morning, the Senate passed the measure on its third and final reading, following two hours of floor debate the day before.
"Red states do it, blue states do it. I think it's terrible. I think political gerrymandering should be unconstitutional everywhere under the US Constitution, under every state Constitution. But that is not where we are. And that's not where we are because of Republicans," said Rep. Julie Mayfield, a Democrat who represents Buncombe County.
The new voting districts would give Republicans a solid advantage in 11 NC congressional districts, potentially flipping a seat in the U.S. House.
The redrawn congressional maps passed the Senate on Monday along party lines.
The map targets Davis by dividing up his 1st District seat. The map takes District 1 from a swing seat to a Republican seat by adding territory on the coast.
"In the 2024 election with record voter turnout, NC's First Congressional District elected both President Trump and me," Davis told ABC11. "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. 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."
The House Rules Committee is set to take up the measure Tuesday evening.
The public can submit comments here.