The Republican-led North Carolina Senate approved a new congressional district map Friday to be used in 2020 that is likely to shrink the GOP’s edge in the state’s congressional delegation.
But Democrats plan to challenge the map in court again.
The map passed the N.C. House on Thursday, part of a swift process completed with the Dec. 2 opening of the filing period for congressional candidates in mind. Lawmakers drew the new map after a three-judge panel indicated it was likely to toss the previous map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The map passed the Senate on a party line vote….The Senate debate lasted more than an hour with Republican Sen. Jerry Tillman complaining that Republicans were having to redraw the districts in the first place.
“For 140 years, you all drew the maps,” he said toward Democrats. “You drew them for 140 years, we sat there and didn’t like it, but we took it. … We’re doing exactly what you all did for 140 years and it was constitutionally OK.”
Update: Plaintiffs have already filed their objections to this new plan. I expect we will see Nate Persily drawing maps. (Unlike the last time, where the court went along with the new lines, this one passed on a party line vote.)