Redistricting

North Carolina Supreme Court justices have a direct impact on whether voters have equal voting power. Because the Governor cannot veto redistricting plans, courts can provide an important check when maps violate constitutional or federal voting-rights protections. However, current court decisions prevent state and federal courts from deciding claims based solely on partisan gerrymandering. Courts may still review legally distinct claims involving racial gerrymandering, racial discrimination, unequal district populations, and the Voting Rights Act.

North Carolina’s 2023 state legislative maps remain in place. The 2023 congressional map was replaced in October 2025 by a new congressional map for the 2026 elections. Most of the lawsuits described below have now concluded without the maps being blocked.

Three Cases Covering The Battle for Fair Representation

Following the North Carolina Supreme Court’s 2023 redistricting decision, the General Assembly enacted new State House, State Senate, and congressional maps. The state legislative maps remain in place. In October 2025, lawmakers replaced the 2023 congressional map with a new map for the 2026 elections. Legal challenges to the 2023 maps have now been dismissed or rejected.

In Bard v. North Carolina State Board of Elections, the plaintiffs argued that the 2023 congressional and legislative maps violated the North Carolina Constitution’s protections for free and fair elections. A three-judge panel dismissed the case in June 2024. On May 20, 2026, the North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal, concluding that the claims were partisan-gerrymandering claims that courts cannot decide under the North Carolina Supreme Court’s 2023 redistricting precedent. Read the Court of Appeals decision.

Williams v. Hall and N.C. NAACP v. Berger challenged North Carolina’s 2023 congressional and legislative maps under the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. A federal three-judge panel rejected the challenges to the 2023 maps in November 2025. The court also declined to block the 2025 congressional map before the 2026 elections. The parties dismissed the remaining claims in January 2026. Review the case history and court filings.

Pierce v. North Carolina State Board of Elections challenged state Senate districts in northeastern North Carolina under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. After a trial, the federal court rejected the challenge in September 2025. The plaintiffs dismissed their appeal on May 11, 2026, ending the case. Review the case history and court filings.

The Impact of Gerrymandering on North Carolina

Gerrymandering has a profound impact on the fairness of elections and representation in North Carolina. By manipulating district boundaries, politicians use tactics like packing and cracking to secure political advantages, often at the expense of minority communities and fair representation. These practices distort the democratic process, leading to unbalanced legislative outcomes that don’t reflect the true will of the voters. In North Carolina, where gerrymandering has been a recurring issue, understanding its impact is crucial for ensuring that every vote counts and that our communities are fairly represented.

Partisan Gerrymandering

Partisan gerrymandering involves manipulating district boundaries to favor one political party over another, often leading to one party winning more seats than their vote share would naturally allow.

This skews election results, leading to a legislative majority that doesn’t reflect the actual voter distribution, undermining fair representation by prioritizing political gain over voter equality.

In 2016, North Carolina adopted a congressional map designed to produce ten Republican districts and three Democratic districts. The map was challenged in Rucho v. Common Cause. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court did not determine that the map was fair or constitutional. Instead, the Court held that partisan-gerrymandering claims present political questions that federal courts cannot decide. Read the Supreme Court’s decision.

Racial Gerrymandering

Racial gerrymandering involves redrawing district lines to dilute the voting power of racial or ethnic minorities, either by packing them into a few districts or cracking them across many.

This reduces the influence of minority communities, making it harder for them to elect their candidates of choice and leading to their underrepresentation in government.

After the 2010 census, North Carolina drew Congressional Districts 1 and 12 with race as the predominant factor. In Cooper v. Harris, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that both districts were unconstitutional racial gerrymanders because the state lacked sufficient justification for using race in drawing the district boundaries. Read more about Cooper v. Harris.

Redistricting and You

The “Redistricting and You” tool offers a comprehensive view of how state officials, including those in North Carolina, are redrawing congressional and state legislative districts based on the 2020 Census. This interactive tool provides maps that display current district population patterns and the number of seats apportioned to each state. Specifically for North Carolina, the tool highlights population shifts and how these changes set the stage for post-2020 redistricting. It’s an essential resource for understanding how these new maps will impact political representation in NC for the next decade.

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People Over Politicians NC

For more information on Independent Redistricting Commission work in North Carolina, be sure to visit

Nonpartisan organizations have been meeting since December 2021 to learn what it would take to establish an IRC in NC successfully. While we ultimately must pass an IRC bill through the NC General Assembly and a statewide ballot initiative to put one in place, the groups are coalescing around a one-year work plan focused on strengthening the legislative foundation and the political will for an IRC. This IRC would ensure racial and partisan equity for North Carolinians.