North Carolina can use GOP-drawn congressional map designed to add another Republican House seat, court rules

A federal court in North Carolina is allowing the state to use a new Republican-drawn congressional map that would help the GOP pick up another seat in the House during next year's midterm elections.

A three-judge panel from the District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina unanimously denied preliminary injunction requests brought by a pair of lawsuits that said the new map was aimed at diluting the voting strength of Black voters.

The judges found that the challengers "presented no direct evidence" that the North Carola Legislature enacted the map for racially discriminatory purposes.

"Instead, the direct evidence shows that the 2025 redistricting was motivated by partisan purposes," the panel wrote Wednesday in a 57-page opinion.

The ruling comes after the Republican-controlled North Carolina Legislature last month approved a map aimed at expanding the number of Republican seats in the House. The challengers, in a pair of consolidated lawsuits, asked the court to block the state from using the new borders of two congressional districts for next year's midterms.

The map aims to flip North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, which President Donald Trump narrowly won in 2024. It's represented by Democrat Rep. Don Davis, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Republicans currently hold 10 of the state’s 14 congressional districts.

Trump has led the charge for Republican-led legislatures to redraw congressional maps heading into the midterms, when the GOP will be defending a slim majority in the House. That move has prompted some Democrat-led states, like California, to pursue new maps of their own.

After the court's ruling Wednesday, state Senate Republican leader Phil Berger said the map is designed to bolster Trump's agenda.

“As Democrat-run states like California do everything in their power to undermine President Trump’s administration and agenda, North Carolina Republicans went to work to protect the America First Agenda," he said in a statement. "North Carolinians voted to send President Trump to the White House in 2016, 2020, and 2024, and this new map reflects that support. President Trump deserves a Congress that will fight for American citizens and move his agenda forward.”