Could Republican-crafted NC map be struck down before the 2026 elections?
It may be a full year until the midterm elections, but critics of North Carolina’s new Republican-crafted congressional map are pushing courts to act fast on their lawsuits and strike down the map before it’s too late.
Later this month, a federal court will consider whether to block the state from using the new map, which is backed by President Donald Trump and expected to pick up another seat for Republicans in Congress.
The legal challenge, filed jointly by a variety of advocacy groups such as Common Cause and the NAACP, alleges that the map discriminates against Black voters and illegally retaliates against the affected district, which chose a Democrat in the 2024 election.
“If elections proceed under the 2025 plan, Black voters in northeast North Carolina will be irreparably harmed, deprived of their fundamental constitutional rights to vote free from discrimination,” the lawsuit states.
Legislative leaders have moved to dismiss the case, arguing that the plaintiffs’ claims essentially amount to allegations of partisan gerrymandering — a practice that the state and U.S. Supreme Court have effectively legalized.
“Plaintiffs cannot save their barred partisan gerrymandering claim by conflating race and politics,” they wrote in court filings.
A panel of judges agreed to an expedited timeline on Thursday, ruling that they would consider the request to block the map at a hearing on Nov. 19 in Winston-Salem.
Candidate filing for the 2026 election runs from Dec. 1-19, meaning the court would either have to rule by then or issue an order delaying the filing period, as has happened before.
North Carolina’s electoral maps already heavily favored Republicans before last month’s efforts.
In 2023, the General Assembly redrew its congressional and legislative maps to pick up seats for the GOP after the state Supreme Court ruled that it would not consider claims of partisan gerrymandering. Those maps were also challenged in court, with critics alleging that they illegally diluted the voting power of Black residents.
Before the court could rule on those claims for the 2023 congressional map, lawmakers passed their new map last month — prompting plaintiffs to reformat their case into the one that will be heard this month.
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