The
vote by state lawmakers is not subject under North Carolina law
to a veto from Governor Roy Cooper, who has joined his fellow
Democrats in decrying the new map as a partisan power grab.
The House of Representatives passed the new map along party
lines on Wednesday afternoon, after the Senate did the same on
Tuesday.
The map creates 10 safely Republican districts, three Democratic
districts and one highly competitive seat, centered in the
eastern part of the state.
Democrats would have to flip five seats in the 435-seat U.S.
House next year to regain control of that chamber.
"There's no doubt the congressional map that's before you today
has a lean toward Republicans," said Representative Destin Hall,
a Republican, who added that the process had abided by the state
constitution and was a natural result of the political makeup of
the chamber.
Activists opposing the redistricting gathered at the state
Capitol on Wednesday to criticize the maps, saying they were
designed to weaken the political voice of communities of color.
“These proposed maps further destroy the guardrails of
democracy,” said Karen Zeigler, lead organizer for Democracy Out
Loud.
The opportunity to enact a map more favorable to Republicans was
delivered by the state Supreme Court, after voters elected more
conservatives to the court in last year's elections.
The previous Democratic-majority court had thrown out an earlier
Republican-drawn map, ruling that extreme political
gerrymandering - the process by which lawmakers manipulate
district lines to marginalize voters of one party - violated the
state constitution.
As a result, the 2022 congressional elections took place under a
court-drawn map, yielding an even split of the state's 14
districts between Republicans and Democrats.
After the election, however, the court's new conservative
majority reversed that decision and ruled that gerrymandering is
not constitutionally prohibited.
Republican lawmakers also approved new state legislative maps
that independent experts say make it likely they will be able to
maintain their current super-majority in each chamber, giving
them the ability to override gubernatorial vetoes.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Gabriella BorterEditing by Colleen
Jenkins and Deepa Babington)
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