N.C. GOP Approves Redrawn Map to Strengthen House Grip Before Midterms
North Carolina’s Republican-led legislature approved a new congressional district map Wednesday, expanding the GOP’s advantage in the state and advancing President Donald Trump’s call for strategic redistricting to maintain the party’s razor-thin majority in the U.S. House ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The revised map is projected to give Republicans at least one additional seat, building on their 2023 redistricting plan that already delivered 10 of the state’s 14 House seats in the 2024 elections. The move comes as North Carolina remains one of the nation’s most evenly divided swing states — underscoring the stakes of Trump’s push to secure durable conservative representation nationwide.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein has no veto power over redistricting under state law, ensuring the new plan’s swift enactment unless blocked by the courts.
This marks the third state this year — after Texas and Missouri — to heed President Trump’s call for aggressive mid-cycle redistricting to reinforce the GOP’s hold on Congress. In Texas, Republicans have already unveiled a plan to flip up to five Democratic-held districts, citing population changes and the need for legal compliance following a 2024 federal court ruling. Democrats, meanwhile, accuse Republicans of partisan gerrymandering — even as blue states have long used similar tactics to cement their own dominance.
Texas famously undertook a mid-decade redraw in 2003 under then-Gov. Rick Perry, a move that helped solidify Republican power. Today, GOP lawmakers are invoking that precedent as they reshape the electoral map in response to shifting demographics and judicial rulings.
Other Republican-controlled states, including Ohio, Kansas, and Indiana, are now exploring similar redistricting opportunities. Each aims to lock in gains while Democrats pursue comparable strategies in places like California, New York, and Illinois.
California Democrats, in particular, have placed Proposition 50 on the November 2025 ballot — a measure designed to authorize temporary redistricting through 2030 to offset GOP-led changes elsewhere. Backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the initiative could threaten several Republican incumbents, including former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Mike Garcia.
Critics on the left call the GOP’s mid-decade redraws “anti-democratic,” but Republicans counter that Democrats have long perfected the same practice in states where they hold power. Illinois, for example, has used hyper-partisan district lines to maintain a Democratic supermajority, while Maryland’s contorted map has ensured Democrats hold seven of eight House seats despite strong Republican statewide performance.
U.S. Rep. Don Davis, a North Carolina Democrat whose 1st District may be dismantled under the new plan, condemned the move as “beyond the pale,” accusing Republicans of “undermining fair elections.”
President Trump, however, celebrated the development as a victory for his America First agenda.
“We’re putting America First in North Carolina!” State House Speaker Destin Hall echoed on X, reposting Trump’s message.
With the GOP now controlling a majority of state legislatures, Republicans are well-positioned to gain more ground through targeted redistricting before 2026. Democrats, who need to flip just three seats to reclaim the House, are increasingly alarmed as the map wars escalate across the country.
As both parties weaponize redistricting in pursuit of congressional control, the next midterm election may hinge less on campaign spending or messaging — and more on how the battle lines are literally redrawn.