A federal court in North Carolina says the state can use a new Republican-drawn congressional map that could help the GOP win another seat in the U.S. House of Representatives during next year’s midterm elections. In a 57-page opinion Wednesday, a three-judge panel unanimously denied preliminary injunction requests in two lawsuits.
The lawsuits argued the new map was aimed at diluting the voting strength of Black voters, violating the 14th Amendment. The judges said the lawsuits “presented no direct evidence” that the legislature enacted the map for racially discriminatory purposes.
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Lawmakers redraw swing district
North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature approved the map last month.
The new North Carolina map changes the boundaries of a swing district currently held by Democratic Rep. Don Davis. The new district lines include areas where more people vote Republican, including the state’s coastal region.
Voters from inland areas who might lean Democratic or independent have been moved into a nearby district that’s already controlled by Republicans.
“Politicians shouldn’t pick the voters; voters should pick the politicians,” Kristen Robinson, a local Democratic party chair, said. “There’s a reason we do redistricting when we do, right? You get information from the census and that’s the only thing that’s supposed to be used in these redistricting maps.”
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein is a Democrat. However, state law prohibits governors from vetoing redistricting legislation, meaning he cannot block the new map.
A Republican lawmaker said the vote ensures more representation for the “true beliefs” of the congressional district’s residents.
“What we are defending here today is not just a map,” state Rep. Brenden Jones said. “It’s the principle that stops the deck from being stacked against us. It’s the principle that our delegation in Congress will advocate for the true beliefs of North Carolinians. It is a fact that we will send one more Republican to Congress from this great state.”
While Jones and the state GOP describe the map as better representing the interests of North Carolinians, their colleagues across the aisle don’t see it that way.
“We see that they use race, we see that they use partisan leaning, so those are the things that I think voters don’t want to see. We want to be representative of our area,” Robinson said.
