As RedState reported in late September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) tried to pick a fight with North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) on the issue of the redistricting wars, with Newsom spreading a fake news story that Berger had promised President Trump a new map if he would endorse him in the GOP primary, where Berger is facing a challenger in 2026.
Berger noted in his response that, "If we have to draw one more map this year, we will. That said, I’ve never spoken to President Trump about this or an endorsement."
I speculated at the time that with the Democrats' "sue til blue" strategy keeping NC maps (state and congressional) mired in the court system for years, Berger probably was reluctant to do another redraw in part on those grounds. But Newsom poking the bear had the potential to inspire Berger to let him "find out" what a bad idea that was.
As it turns out, that is exactly what happened. The North Carolina Senate passed the redrawn map on Tuesday, and the House did its part on Wednesday.
SEE ALSO: Gavin Newsom Comes for Republican NC Senate Leader, Now Probably Wishes He Hadn't
NC has 14 congressional districts, with Democrats holding only four of the seats. The target on the map was the First Congressional District, which is currently being held by moderate-ish Democrat Don Davis. Republicans felt like that one had the most pickup opportunity, seeing that it has become increasingly competitive. Davis narrowly held on to the seat in the 2024 elections against Trump-backed GOP nominee Laurie Buckhout, who lost by 6,000 votes in a race that saw the Libertarian candidate, Tom Bailey, get 10,000 votes.
Here's what the new map looks like. District One is the lavender-colored one on the top right.
— NCGOP (@NCGOP) October 22, 2025
The new North Carolina congressional map has PASSED the NC House and Senate.
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) October 22, 2025
The bill does not require the Governor's signature and is now law
Change To Dem Rep Don Davis in #NC01
🔴 Trump +3 -> 🔴 Trump +11 pic.twitter.com/wM921mJrB7
After the map passed in the Senate, Berger shared that this was about more than Newsom's redistricting scheme; it was a response to decades of Democrats redrawing maps to redistrict Republicans out of Congress - including here in NC:
Across the country, Democrat-run states have spent decades ensuring that Republicans would be drawn out of Congress. North Carolina Republicans will not sit quietly and watch Democrats continue to ignore the will of the people in an attempt to force their liberal agenda on our… pic.twitter.com/gCmY08deA3
— Senator Phil Berger (@SenatorBerger) October 21, 2025
As for what's next, Democrat Gov. Josh Stein does not have the power to veto the map, so inevitably, we are going to see lawsuits as we have in the past. But, depending on how the Supreme Court rules in the Louisiana case involving the Voting Rights Act, some of the Democrats' typical race-based arguments may soon no longer hold much, if any, weight.
Plus, Republicans are already laying the groundwork for their defense: that they are redrawing the map for partisan reasons, not racial ones:
The GOP rationale is likely an attempt to get ahead of lawsuits, said Chris Cooper, director of Western Carolina University's Haire Institute for Public Policy.
Both North Carolina courts and the U.S. Supreme Court have ruled in recent years that they will not overturn maps on the basis of partisan gerrymandering but could if a map represents a racial gerrymander. (The U.S. Supreme Court may soon rule differently on racial gerrymanders.)
"If [North Carolina Republicans] can say that partisanship part out loud, I think they probably think that puts them on even better, firmer grounds," Cooper said.
We will, of course, keep readers posted on how this plays out in the courts in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned.
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