North Carolina is latest GOP-led state to take up mid-decade redistricting

Daniela Altimari, CQ-Roll Call on Oct 14, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina plan to consider a new congressional map next week, amid pressure from President Donald Trump to bolster the GOP’s chances of maintaining its House majority next year.

It’s the latest front in an ongoing national battle over mid-decade redistricting. Texas and Missouri Republicans have approved new maps that could collectively help their party pick up as many as six additional House seats, provided the efforts withstand legal and other challenges. Democrats in California responded to Texas’ move by redrawing their state’s map in a quest to win five additional seats, though voters would need to approve that plan via a November ballot measure before it can be implemented.

“President Trump earned a clear mandate from the voters of North Carolina and the rest of the country, and we intend to defend it by drawing an additional Republican Congressional seat,’’ North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall said in a joint statement with Senate leader Phil Berger.

The current North Carolina map already heavily favors Republicans. They hold 10 of the battleground state’s 14 congressional districts, following a GOP-led redistricting effort last cycle that helped the party flip three Democratic-held seats.

Berger took aim at California’s Democratic governor, saying the legislature will “hold votes in our October session to redraw North Carolina’s congressional map to ensure Gavin Newsom doesn’t decide the congressional majority.”

The most likely target of a new redistricting drive would be North Carolina’s 1st District, a purple swath in the northeastern part of the state that’s held by Democratic Rep. Don Davis.

Davis, one of 13 House Democrats who hold seats that Trump carried last year, won a second term last year by defeating Republican Laurie Buckhout by 2 points. He told WRAL that he’d been a redistricting target before — as a congressman and state legislator — and that he was committed to serving his constituents regardless of party “or the way the map is drawn.”

Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, who does not have the power to veto a new map, denounced the GOP’s redistricting push.

“The General Assembly works for North Carolina, not Donald Trump,’’ he said in a statement. “These shameless politicians are abusing their power to take away yours.”

Efforts to redraw congressional lines in other states are also underway. Ohio is required under its constitution to redraw its map this cycle, while Utah is poised to also see new boundaries following a court order.

In Kansas, state Republicans on Monday approved a budget for a special session to take up redistricting. There’s currently a petition circulating among state GOP lawmakers to call the special session, starting on Nov. 7. And Indiana Republican leaders said they hoped to make a decision on redrawing their state’s map “very soon” following a meeting with Vice President JD Vance last week.

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