North Carolina Republicans have now stolen another U.S. House seat from Democrats, aiding President Donald Trump in his anti-democratic effort to shore up his party’s narrow House majority ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
On Wednesday, the North Carolina state House approved a redrawn congressional map that is expected to give Republicans one additional seat in the House. Because the state Senate passed the map on Tuesday, and because Democratic Gov. Josh Stein is unable to veto redistricting maps, the new lines are now law.
North Carolina is the first swing state this year to enact a new Republican gerrymander.
The new map is expected to give the GOP control of 79% of North Carolina’s U.S. House seats—11 out of 14—even though the state is effectively a political toss-up. An average of the last three presidential contests, the most recent governor’s race, and the last Senate race puts the state’s partisanship at D+0.7, according to a Daily Kos analysis.
In other words, a fair map would split the state’s 14 seats roughly evenly between the two parties.
Republican leaders have made little effort to disguise their motives.
“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,” state Senate leader Phil Berger wrote on X, posting a composite photo of himself grinning alongside Trump.
Republican state Sen. Ralph Hise speaks during a House Redistricting Committee meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, earlier this month.
Berger and state House Speaker Destin Hall announced the plan just over a week ago, framing it as a way to protect Trump’s agenda.
“The purpose of this map was to pick up a Republican seat. We’ve stated that over and over again,” said Republican state Sen. Ralph Hise, one of the architects of the new map.
This past Friday, Trump celebrated state Republicans’ early moves as “a huge victory” in a Truth Social post.
The new map targets the state’s 1st Congressional District, held by Democratic Rep. Don Davis. It reshapes this district to include more conservative counties, likely causing the seat to flip to Republicans next year. That district consists of all of the state’s eight majority-Black counties, and the redraw will weaken Black voters’ influence in eastern North Carolina.
“Many from across eastern North Carolina, including both Democrats and Republicans, have reached out to me to make it clear that they are not asking for a new congressional map,” Davis said in a statement to The New York Times. “They believe that this fundamentally goes against our core values and would undermine everything we stand for.”
The fight in North Carolina reflects a broader arms race between the parties.
Over the summer, Texas Republicans pushed through their own new map, adding as many as five GOP seats to their House delegation at the urging of Gov. Greg Abbott and Trump. Democrats in California responded with a counterplay: Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed a proposal to flip up to five Republican-held districts in his state. That plan still requires voter approval in November, though polling suggests it will pass.
Marchers proceed from the Capitol during a rally protesting a proposed redistricting map on Oct. 21 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Other states, such as Missouri, are also moving to squash democracy and fortify Republican power in the House. Lawmakers in Indiana have been weighing a mid-cycle redistricting push as well, but Politico reported on Wednesday that Indiana Senate Republicans say they do not have the votes to do so.
Nevertheless, North Carolina stands out because of its battleground status. The state’s competitive streak in recent statewide races makes it one of the most closely watched in the country. It’s already faced repeated court battles over Republican gerrymanders, but this latest map could be harder to challenge. Legal experts say it may test the limits of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which the U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to further curtail.
Democrats have accused Republicans of abusing their power.
“This is a General Assembly, one of only two in the entire country, that has not yet passed a budget,” Stein said at a press conference earlier this week. The Democrat also accused state Republicans of “failing the voters by taking away their authority to choose their own elected representative.”
The political stakes for Berger are personal, too. He’s facing a primary against Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, and his aggressive embrace of redistricting has fueled speculation that he’s courting Trump’s endorsement. Berger has denied any such deal.
If the map survives expected lawsuits, it would likely give Republicans an even tighter chokehold on the state’s congressional delegation. Democrats have signaled they’re prepared to fight the plan in court.
But for now, North Carolina is Trump’s latest redistricting prize—and a sign that the partisan map wars are far from over.
