RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A newly drawn congressional map in North Carolina meant to benefit Republicans is facing its first legal challenge as voters claim it’s racially discriminatory.
When asked about potential litigation over the map earlier in the week, North Carolina Senate President Phil Berger said, “Every map we’ve passed results in a lawsuit, so that’s not a surprise.”
Voters in the 1st and 3rd districts, which were targeted in the redrawing, are challenging the new map as part of an already-pending lawsuit against the previous map from 2023. They accuse the map of discriminating against Black voters in those districts and takes away their chances of fair representation by rigging the system in a way that almost guarantees a Republican win.
The Republicans in favor the map say they didn’t consider race when making it.
“The redrawing of district one was done based on political calculation and a determination that the district could be redrawn for a Republican to have a better chance of winning,” Berger said.
In several committee meetings and debates over the map, Republican state Sen. Ralph Hise, who took credit for the map said, no racial data was used and he instead relied on political data.
In response, Democratic Senate Leader Sydney Batch said said, “Senator Hise can sit there and say all day long he didn’t take any race into account, but when you look at the data, it makes it very clear he has taken northeastern North Carolina, which has always been a solid Black belt of voters who fought for their civil rights to be here and be elected by people they chose.”
Republicans are confident in the map.
“It’ll be upheld in any court,” Republican House Speaker Destin Hall said. “We followed the law with it.”
But Democrats say the court needs to step up and protect Black voters.
“This has negatively impacted Black voters,” Batch said. “For them to say anything other is a straight, bold-faced lie.”
Republicans in North Carolina have repeatedly said they made the map to protect President Donald Trump’s agenda in Congress.
