Republican lawmakers in Texas are pushing to enact new congressional maps that would give the GOP five more seats — seats that would boost a narrow majority in the U.S. House and that President Trump says the GOP is “entitled to.”
The partisan move to redraw congressional maps midyear, instead of after the decennial census, has set off a wave of responses, with Democratic-led states looking to counter with their own redistricting plans and some Republican-led states considering changes to their maps as well.
Across the country, demonstrators in over 200 events gathered for the “Fight the Trump Takeover” rallies over the weekend, including cities here in North Carolina from Boone to 16 bridges across Raleigh and Durham in a "bridge brigade," according to the event’s website. Protestors in more than 30 states decried the Texas-led effort as a move by Trump to use his grip on the GOP to push significant changes ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Redistricting controversy is nothing new in North Carolina. The state has been home to some of the most significant redistricting cases in the nation and still continues its map-drawing disputes in court now. In 2023, after a change in the makeup of the state Supreme Court and a decision to reverse its stance of outlawing extreme partisan gerrymandering, lawmakers changed previous court-ordered maps with a 7-7 partisan split to a 10-4 Republican advantage.
We examine the implications of a national redistricting race, the nature of partisan gerrymandering, and how North Carolina’s past with redistricting could inform the present. Also, with an impending federal decision on NC’s current maps and a legislature not out of session, we ask if North Carolina could join in on the current redistricting race?
GUESTS:
Dr. Michael Bitzer, professor of politics and history, director of the Center for NC Politics and Public Service at Catawba College; author of “Redistricting and Gerrymandering in North Carolina: Battlelines in the Tar Heel State”
David Daley, senior fellow at FairVote; author of "Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections" and a national best-seller on partisan gerrymandering, "Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count"
Reid Wilson, founder and editor of Pluribus News
