North Carolina Senate Weighs In With Its Version of New CD Map

RALEIGH, N.C. — The political sausage making has begun in North Carolina’s state capitol where lawmakers are expected to spend most of Wednesday debating congressional district maps proposed by each chamber of the legislature.

As reported this morning by The Well News, the North Carolina House floated its proposal for a new congressional district map for the state via Twitter last night. Hours later, the North Carolina Senate rolled out its own version of the bill.

Both the House and Senate are holding committee meetings to debate the maps Wednesday and leaders in both chambers plan to vote on a final version Thursday, in advance of a Friday deadline imposed by the North Carolina Supreme Court. 

With time of the essence and the timer expired on a significant redraw, it’s likely the decision for the legislature will come down choosing one or the other version, or sending both maps for the court to consider.

The maps tossed by the state Supreme Court earlier this month would have increased the Republican advantage in congressional elections, resulting in a delegation that was divided 10-4 or perhaps even 11-3 with the Democrats.

Adding fuel to the court’s fire was the fact that three Democratic strongholds in the state, Wake, Mecklenburg and Guilford counties, were split not once, but twice, and the fragments combined with much larger, Republican-leaning rural communities.

The court concluded that based on their populations, one county, Guilford County, didn’t have to be split at all. The court found Wake and Mecklenburg would have to be split, but only once.

Statistical data provided to the lawmakers along with the map also suggest that both draft maps contain at least two competitive districts, compared to just one in the current map.

Dan can be reached at dan@thewellnews.com and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue