Washington, D.C. —  Today, Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), released the following statement in response to the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly passing a new, more extreme mid-decade congressional gerrymander:

“North Carolina is already one of the most egregiously gerrymandered states in the country. It has now become worse. Republicans disrespect the people of the state in order to hold on to power they have not fairly won. They fear the will of the people they claim they want to represent.  

“With North Carolinians electing Democratic candidates in statewide elections for well over a decade, the Tar Heel state is a purple, 50-50 state, but the state’s congressional and state legislative maps are decidedly not. This additional gerrymander goes even further and denies black voters equal representation, dismantling—with surgical precision—a district where they have long had the opportunity to express their political desires. 

“It is morally reprehensible and legally indefensible—and it will be challenged in court.”

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