Washington, D.C. – Today, after weeks of drawing maps behind closed doors, North Carolina Republicans introduced egregiously gerrymandered legislative and congressional maps. 

The proposed congressional maps would change the current evenly-divided map to one that could give Republicans as many as 11 seats and Democrats just three seats. The proposed state legislative maps would cement Republican supermajorities in both chambers for the decade. The state Senate map could give Republicans as many as 30 seats and give Democrats just 18 seats, with just two competitive seats. The state House map could give Republicans as many as 70 seats and give Democrats just 45 seats, with just five competitive districts. 

Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), issued the following statement in response to the North Carolina Republicans’ gerrymandered maps: 

“North Carolina is a highly competitive and evenly politically-divided state with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans now representing its citizens in Congress. This fair split is based on fair maps drawn within the very recent past. Yet, these newest lines drawn by a highly partisan state legislature are created to diminish the voting power of the state’s most populous, diverse communities and erase competition between both parties for the rest of the decade. 

“The new maps are based on political fear and arrogance. They are neither reflective of, nor will they be responsive to, the voters of North Carolina. 

“It should not be lost on the public that the Republicans who support these egregious gerrymanders are the same politicians who attempted—and failed—to use the U.S. Supreme Court to weaken our system of checks and balances for the sake of gerrymandering. They have been emboldened by a state supreme court that operated on political opportunism and ideological bias in reversing, without a sound legal basis, a very recent precedent from the very same court. 

“But make no mistake, the fair maps movement will continue in North Carolina. We have a long road ahead of us that will be filled with more victories than losses, but this fight requires everyone to continuously stay engaged at every level to protect our hard won and precious democracy. Complacency is not an option.”

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