Delay in new congressional maps could lead to extra 2020 election, GOP lawmakers warn
Some members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation want the state’s legislature to redraw its congressional map — and do it fast.
North Carolina is scheduled to hold its 2020 primaries on March 3, and a delay in redrawing districts as ordered by a three-judge panel of state judges on Monday night could postpone the congressional primaries. State Republican lawmakers could appeal the order, potentially pushing a final decision off for months.
“I don’t understand how their rationale could be any different from the legislative districts, and they redrew those,” Rep. George Holding, a Raleigh Republican, said of the state legislature, which recently — and quickly — redrew House and Senate maps after a court order.
“The worst scenario is having standalone primaries. If the General Assembly doesn’t redraw them and it does get drawn out, we’ll have standalone primaries.”
North Carolina had a standalone primary for congressional races in 2016, when a different set of congressional districts was tossed as a racial gerrymander. Turnout for the general primary election in 2016, which included presidential and senatorial primaries, was 35.7%. Turnout for the standalone congressional primary was 7.7%.
In addition to low turnout, lawmakers cited cost to counties and voter confusion among reasons not to hold a standalone primary.
“It serves no one’s interest to have a standalone congressional primary,” said Rep. Richard Hudson, a Concord Republican.
Said Rep. Greg Murphy, a Greenville Republican: “We don’t need to, in my opinion, have the taxpayers incur any additional costs.”
‘Nearly a decade of illegal districts’
North Carolina’s congressional maps have been in flux throughout the decade. In 2010, Democrats held seven of the state’s 13 U.S. House seats. In 2012, after the Republican-controlled legislature redrew the maps with new Census numbers, Republicans held nine seats and pushed it to 10 in 2014. Those maps were thrown out and new maps were redrawn for the 2016 elections. Those were also used in 2018 and the 2019 special elections.
Republicans currently hold 10 of the 13 seats.
The current maps were struck down previously as an unconstitutional “partisan gerrymander,” but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the federal courts cannot deal with them. That led the maps back to state court.
The three Democratic members of the House delegation applauded the ruling.
“The court’s decision reaffirms our long-held belief that the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly engaged in extreme racial and partisan gerrymandering, such that congressional districts were designed to favor the Republican majority and disenfranchise voters. We applaud the court’s decision. After nearly a decade of illegal districts, voters deserve fair maps so their voices can be heard,” said Reps. Alma Adams, David Price and G.K. Butterfield in a joint statement.
Who will run?
Adams, who represents Charlotte, said Tuesday she was running for re-election to represent Charlotte. Price, from Chapel Hill, announced his 2020 re-election bid Tuesday.
“With forces threatening to both undermine our democracy and unravel the progress we’ve made, we need steady hands in Washington — more so now than at any point in our lifetimes,” Price said in a statement.
Price said he is committed to running in 2020. He said it’s up to the legislature to draw the districts and the courts to decide if they are fair.
“I’m not part of that process. You don’t have control. It’s kind of like riding in an airplane in a bumpy storm and you just hold on for the ride. You really don’t have a role,” Hudson said.
Holding, though, did not commit to running again in a new-look district. He already switched districts after the 2016 redraw.
“We’ll just wait and see what they look like,” he said.
Similarly, Rep. Ted Budd, a Davie County Republican, said he’d take a wait-and-see approach.
“I feel like I can represent different areas. We’ll just have to see how the process plays out.”
A spokesman for Rep. Mark Walker, a Greensboro Republican, accused the Democrats of “judge-shopping because they can’t win elections on their broken policies.”
“Every time we go through this it costs the state more money and more faith in our election process,” Walker spokesman Jack Minor said. He said Walker ‘”looks forward to continuing” serving the people of North Carolina.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Banner Elk Republican, said she was “disappointed that a court has once again thrown North Carolina’s congressional districts into disarray.”
“This decision has contributed to voter confusion about their representation and is ultimately a rejection of centuries of precedent that fails the test of judicial restraint,” said Foxx, who plans to run again in 2020.
7 elections, 5 maps?
The districts drawn for 2020 will have to be redrawn again for the 2022 election, in accordance with the Census. North Carolina is expected to gain an additional seat in the U.S. House.
If there are new districts for 2020 and for 2022, then North Carolina voters will have been governed by five different sets of maps for seven elections.
| Election year | Republicans | Democrats | Who drew map? | New map |
| 2018 | 10 | 3 | Republicans | No, same as 2018 |
| 2016 | 10 | 3 | Republicans | Yes (court order) |
| 2014 | 10 | 3 | Republicans | No, same as 2012 |
| 2012 | 9 | 4 | Republicans | Yes (census) |
| 2010 | 6 | 7 | Democrats | No, same as 2002-10 |
| 2008 | 5 | 8 | Democrats | No, same as 2002-10 |
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This story was originally published October 29, 2019 at 6:18 PM.
