North Carolina Jumps Back Into the Redistricting Battle

North Carolina Republicans will soon launch their fifth redistricting effort in the past six years, a process that would set off an expensive legal battle and only gain them a slightly larger advantage in the state than they already hold.

They say it’s worth it.

“There’s no reason not to jump into the fray and do everything we can to support President Trump and his agenda,” said Matt Mercer, communications director for the North Carolina Republican Party.

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State lawmakers signaled over the past few weeks they would consider another effort to redraw maps, which President Donald Trump has pushed nationwide to protect and grow Republicans’ slim majority in the House.

That seemed to reach a new level when Phil Berger, president pro tem of the North Carolina Senate, denied rumors that he offered to redraw the map to receive an endorsement from Trump, but he wrote on X that, “If we have to draw one more map this year, we will.”

“The #NCGA is ready to help Republicans secure Congress and move @realDonaldTrump’s agenda forward!,” Berger posted on X Thursday afternoon.

State Rep. Brenden Jones posted a new map on X Thursday afternoon with the caption “Beautiful isn’t it @GavinNewsom.” The Republican-controlled state legislature posted the same map.

The proposed map makes major changes that, if enacted, could lead to one additional Republican seat: the 1st Congressional District, currently represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis.

But there’s little room for more pickups for Republicans in North Carolina: They already hold 10 of the state’s 14 congressional seats. And a long, expensive legal battle will likely follow if the state redraws its maps yet again. Litigation to the 2021 map cost taxpayers nearly $3 million, according to public records obtained by NC Newsline.

“The state legislature has clearly made the decision that it’s worth it to them,” Republican strategist Doug Heye, who has worked on Senate races in North Carolina, told NOTUS. “Once Texas and California started squaring off, the escalation seemed inevitable.”

When asked about how voters might respond to the cost of litigation, Mercer tried to shift the burden on the Democrats and left-leaning groups that are likely to sue.

“They’re the ones who instigate the litigation over the maps, and so you really would have to ask them if they feel the expense is worth it,” Mercer said.

While redrawn maps are likely to face lawsuits, any argument that North Carolina’s new map is illegal due to partisan or racial gerrymandering will likely be unsuccessful in court, said Chris Cooper, a professor of political science at Western Carolina University.

A federal judge upheld a state Senate map drawn in 2023 and rejected claims from Black voters that Republican state lawmakers illegally changed state Senate district boundaries to keep them from electing their preferred candidate. A similar lawsuit arguing that the current congressional map dilutes Black voting power in the 1st Congressional District is awaiting a ruling from a district court.

The U.S. Supreme Court reheard arguments Wednesday in a case about whether Louisiana relied too much on its consideration of race when redrawing its congressional map. The court seemed likely to restrict the use of race in redistricting, which would open the door for Republican state legislatures to eliminate several majority-minority districts in the South, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

The new map floated by North Carolina Republicans would expand the 1st Congressional District to cover the entire coast north of Carteret County, much of which voted for Trump in 2024. The 3rd Congressional District would move slightly west and include counties previously in the 1st Congressional District: Wilson, Wayne, Greene, and Lenoir. All other districts would remain the same.

A spokesperson for Davis, who represents Congressional District 1, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon. The Democratic congressman said in a statement earlier this week that he has experienced several rounds of redistricting while serving at the state and federal levels.

“Serving the hardworking families of the East is my unwavering commitment, regardless of party affiliation or the way the map is drawn, and I intend to continue in this work,” Davis said. “Eastern North Carolina is my home, and our residents deserve a champion and fair representation.”

But there’s more than the risk of drawn out court battles and the cost of implementing a new map. Redrawing maps also carries the possibility that cutting into a district will naturally chip away at adjacent districts.

“The risk is that you slice that bread too thin and you reduce their margins enough so in a Democratic wave year, a Democrat wins and takes out Greg Murphy or Brad Knott,” Cooper said, although he added that the odds of that are low.

A spokesperson for Murphy texted NOTUS to express confidence.

“Dr. Murphy is reviewing the proposed congressional map released by the state house, and looks forward to serving the people of Eastern North Carolina as he has done for the last 6 years,” said the spokesperson.

North Carolina Democrats expressed worry on Tuesday about the possibility of a new map.

“They’re trying to steal another district away from the Democrats,” Rep. Deborah Ross said. “When we’re a purple state, we should have pretty much evenly divided congressional delegation, and they are going to have politicians choosing their own voters, rather than voters choosing their elected representatives.”

Rep. Valerie Foushee said redistricting in the middle of the 10-year census “makes no sense, and it’s unfair.”

Polling shows that gerrymandering is unpopular. In a 2025 survey of 1,000 North Carolinians, 84% said that it is an important principle of American democracy that “the way electoral districts are drawn doesn’t consistently favor one political party over the other.”

Public opinion, however, may not matter, Cooper said: “Once the maps are so locked in, there’s really no potential electoral punishment for doing that.”

Mercer said that voters’ concerns over redistricting “tend to fade when you’re talking about which party is going to make my life better.”

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Editor’s Note: This story was updated with additional reporting.