Mary Ellen Klas, Columnist

North Carolina’s New Electoral Map Resurrects Jim Crow

October 20, 2025 at 11:00 AM UTC

Mary Ellen Klas is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former capital bureau chief for the Miami Herald, she has covered politics and government for more than three decades.

It’s actually a purple state.
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images

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North Carolina Republicans will officially enter the redistricting arms race this week when lawmakers try to heed President Donald Trump’s call to create additional Republican seats. But carving out another safe GOP seat will only further unravel the state’s already frayed democratic institutions and leave the state’s rural “Black Belt” region without meaningful representation in Washington. That’s not the representative democracy these lawmakers swore an oath to uphold.

North Carolina Republican leaders unveiled their new map on Thursday. If enacted, it could flip the 1st Congressional District — the state’s only competitive House seat — to Republicans’ favor, bringing the congressional delegation to 11 Republicans and 3 Democrats.