Pressed by a court ruling last week over partisan gerrymandering, North Carolina legislators began on Tuesday to produce a new state congressional map that could make it more difficult for national Republicans to retake control of the U.S. House.

A special House-Senate committee met for the first time and set rules for proposed replacement boundaries that the full legislature could vote upon as soon as next week, when it officially reconvenes. A key legislator warned the process will be more complicated than when the GOP-controlled General Assembly redrew several dozen legislative districts just two months ago.

On Oct. 28, a state judicial panel blocked use of the state’s 13 U.S. House districts for the 2020 elections by determining it was likely the voters who sued to overturn the 2016 map alleging excessive partisan bias favoring Republicans would win their case. The GOP currently hold 10 of the 13 seats in the state’s congressional delegation, even though North Carolina is considered a presidential battleground entering 2020 and regularly holds close statewide elections.

The same judges struck down state House and Senate districts in early September by agreeing with similar arguments that political gerrymandering violated the North Carolina Constitution.

While the judges wrote in their preliminary injunction that it lacked authority at the time to order the legislature to draw new congressional districts, they suggested the General Assembly could redraw them on their own now and avoid delaying the congressional election calendar.

Candidate filing for all 2020 races begin Dec. 2, and the State Board of Elections has said congressional primaries could still occur March 3 as scheduled if a replacement map is finalized by Dec. 15.

“The court respectfully urges the General Assembly to adopt an expeditious process,” the judges wrote last week.

The legislature worked at lightning speed in September to redraw nearly 80 of their 170 legislative districts in barely over a week, following the judges’ criteria such as ignoring political data and election results and to improving district compactness when able.

The court has provided no such specific criteria for the congressional remap. But committee members agreed Tuesday that it made sense to mimic much of what it followed during the legislative remap. For example, live video of the committee meetings again will be online, as will the displays of the computer terminals where any mapmaking will be performed.

The committee also agreed that those computers would contain neither elections results — a key element in determining a district’s partisan slant — nor racial information about voters. The committee will decide later this week whether they want to use a previously drawn map to serve as the base plan for their work, or create a new map from scratch.

Mitchell County Republican Sen. Ralph Hise, a committee co-chairman, said drawing a congressional map will include additional challenges. For example, each of the 13 districts must have exactly or almost exactly the same number of residents. Based on the 2010 census figures, that’s 733,499 people per districts. Legal rulings, allow for more flexibility in General Assembly district populations.

“Equal population makes it much more complex,” Hise said.

Related Stories
‹
N Carolina Congress Remap Proposal Threatens 2 Incumbents
The political future of two GOP incumbents could be endangered as North Carolina Republican legislators advanced a new congressional district map Thursday in response to a partisan gerrymandering lawsuit. The reconfigured districts have become necessary since state judges blocked use of the current U.S. House districts for the 2020 elections because they say it’s likely […]
North Carolina Judges Block Current Congressional Map
North Carolina judges on Monday blocked the state’s congressional map from being used in the 2020 elections, ruling that voters had a strong likelihood of winning a lawsuit that argued Republicans unlawfully manipulated district lines for partisan gain. The panel of three Superior Court judges issued a preliminary injunction preventing elections under the district lines, […]
Court Considers North Carolina Congressional Map for 2020
Evidence is so strong that Republicans carved North Carolina’s congressional districts for a specific — and illegal — partisan advantage that those lines must be barred now from use, a lawyer representing voters told judges on Thursday. A panel of three Superior Court judges listened but didn’t immediately rule on the request by the Democratic […]
NC Congress Map Challenged Again on Partisan Bias
Buoyed by a favorable ruling this month involving legislative districts, North Carolina voters sued again on Friday to overturn the state’s congressional map, alleging Republican state lawmakers manipulated lines to maximize GOP seats. The registered Democrats and independents filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court, alleging extreme partisanship in how the 13 districts were […]
Challenges to North Carolina Congressional Map Can Proceed
Lawsuits challenging North Carolina’s congressional districts can proceed after federal judges rejected arguments that they should wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh a similar case. A three-judge federal panel in North Carolina issued a two-sentence order Tuesday rejecting a motion to halt the case while the high court considers a Wisconsin case dealing […]
North Carolina Redistricting Trial Begins, With Racial Gerrymandering Allegations the Focus
North Carolina districts drawn by Republicans that helped retain majorities in Raleigh and Washington are a topic in federal court this week.
NC House Minority Leader Shares Thoughts on Latest Round of Redistricting and Maps
Rep. Robert Reives II discussed North Carolina's latest redistricting efforts and his concerns over the state's lack of checks and balances.
North Carolina Republicans Put Exclamation Mark on Pivotal Annual Session With Redistricting Maps
The North Carolina General Assembly gave final approval Wednesday to new redistricting maps poised to empower the state GOP for years.
Court Opens Door To Voiding N. Carolina Voter ID Amendment
Written by JONATHAN DREW and GARY D. ROBERTSON North Carolina’s highest court opened the door Friday to nullifying a voter ID mandate approved by citizens in 2018 because the lawmakers who put it on the ballot were elected from districts tainted by illegal racial bias. However, the North Carolina Supreme Court stopped short of striking […]
NC Supreme Court OKs Speeding Up Redistricting Arguments
Written by GARY D. ROBERTSON In another remapping decision along partisan leanings, the North Carolina Supreme Court has agreed to speed up arguments on further challenges to the boundaries for the state’s legislative seats and congressional districts. By a 4-3 ruling with registered Democrats in the majority, the justices granted a request by Common Cause to accelerate the redistricting […]
›