NC House passes bipartisan redistricting map

The N.C. House has passed a bipartisan redistricting map to reapportion North Carolina’s 120 state House seats.

The measure passed with strong support from both sides of the aisle, 115-5, after the approval of six amendments, most of which were offered by House Minority Leader Robert Reives, D-Chatham. The Senate is expected to approve the state House maps without changes, as is customary.

 Proposed new N.C. House electoral maps were considered by the N.C. House on February 15, 2022. Source: ncleg.gov

Republicans and Democrats joined forces to pass a compromise map with a Friday court-ordered deadline approaching. The new map will improve Democrats’ opportunities in the lower chamber as the map meets key milestones:

*     The maps fully comply with the Democrat state Supreme Court order that the maps must provide a measure of “partisan fairness” to be considered constitutional.

*     The compromise results in the first bipartisan state House redistricting plan widely accepted by both major political parties for the first time in decades.

*     The compromise map is almost guaranteed to be accepted by the court and be the final map for 2022.
Leadership on both sides expect that the court will find the maps fully comply with the Democrat-majority state Supreme Court order that the maps must provide a measure of “partisan fairness” to be considered constitutional.

Initial research by the John Locke Foundation indicates the maps would likely result in a GOP majority in 2023. The maps also guarantee that Democrats can win control of the chamber in a strong Democratic year. While Democrats and their aligned court plaintiffs have made it far more difficult for Republicans to capture a veto-proof supermajority, 72 seats out of 120, they don’t completely prevent that result in an extremely strong Republican year.

“While we disagree with the court’s decision, this map complies with their order,” redistricting chair Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said on the floor of the House Wednesday night.

“North Carolina for too long has been a leader in partisan and racial gerrymandering,” said Reives. “The N.C. Supreme Court’s recent decision puts us on a path to more constitutionally fair districts. The N.C. House map we have agreed to is consistent with the court’s decision on partisan fairness.”

“Years of costly litigation and unconstitutional maps underscore that North Carolina needs an independent redistricting process that is open and transparent to the people of North Carolina,” Reives added.

House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said the agreement was a result of days of “good-faith negotiations.”

On Thursday, Senate members will consider N.C. Senate maps, which were approved on a party-line vote by the Senate Redistricting Committee on Wednesday afternoon.  Sens. Paul Newton, R- Cabarrus, and Warren Daniel, R-Burke, led the effort in that chamber to complete the remedial Senate maps.

Also Thursday, the Senate Redistricting Committee will consider the remedial N.C. House map and a remedial congressional map. All three maps will likely have expedited passage through the legislature as Friday is the court-imposed deadline to get them to a three-judge Superior Court panel for approval. Candidate filing in N.C. is slated to reopen Feb. 24 with primary elections on May 17.