RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — The North Carolina House and Senate passed new redistricting maps Wednesday that will cost three to four House Democrats their seats and guarantee GOP control of the Legislature.
Due to a provision in the state’s constitution, Governor Roy Cooper has no control over redistricting and doesn’t have the authority to veto the maps.
Labeled by many as gerrymandering, the congressional map will shift control from a partisan 7-7, to 10-3 with one undecided district.
There was also no public input on the maps.
State Representative Pricey Harrison, a Democrat, commented on the House floor Wednesday that there was a distinct lack of transparency in the process.
“We really did not do a good job on including the public on this important process,” she said. “None of this serves the public well, this is not what they want.” She urged the House to listen to the public and consider an independent redistricting committee.
“This map secures more Republican seats than 100,000 randomly generated maps,” said Representative Tim Longest, a Democrat. “That is unexplainable by geography, deliberately designed to maximize advantage.”
He added: “There’s no question that the congressional map we are voting on now is extreme partisan gerrymandering. Partisan gerrymandering is not just a failure to be proportional to statewide vote share. It means that some voters cannot translate their votes into seats to the same degree as other voters in a way that can’t be explained by geography alone, but only by the choice of what’s happening here.”
Asher Hildenbran, an associate professor at Duke, described the impact the maps could have, saying that either map would make North Carolina “the most gerrymandered state in the country.”
The maps will take effect in the 2024 elections and make it essentially impossible for Democrats to secure a majority, even if they were to sweep the state.
During a Senate committee hearing Wednesday morning, Republican Representative Destin Hall said the “overall goal” in creation of the House plan was “to create Republican-leaning districts where possible while … following traditional redistricting principles.”
Last year, North Carolina relied on a paristan map that was court-ordered for the 2022 election. Maps are normally drawn every 10 years, following the census.
Representative Wiley Nickel, an incumbent Democrat, has publicly labeled the maps as “an extreme partisan gerrymander” and said that he intends to sue. Nickel’s 13th District, in Wake County, was one of the most affected areas, with the new map removing parts of Raleigh and including more rural voters.
In Charlotte, Representative Jeff Jackson’s 14th District has been largely reallocated, including a much greater rural area barely touching the city and reassigning most urban voters to Representative Alma Adam’s 12th District.
“The people of North Carolina expect us to represent them. And if we don’t, they should be able to hold us accountable and vote us out,” said Representative Sarah Crawford, a Democrat, on the House floor Wednesday afternoon. “These Senate maps ensure that the likelihood of that happening is pretty low.”
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