Summary
- NC Senate president pro tempore denies favoring Trump for endorsement.
- Rumors claim redistricting aids the GOP in competitive Democratic districts.
- The GOP already holds 10 of 14 U.S. House seats in NC.
Due to battles in several additional states, including California, Texas, Ohio, and Missouri, redistricting during the decennial process has gained national attention. After the decennial census, North Carolina typically redraws its maps, which stay in effect for ten years.
State Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, released a statement saying,
“I’ve been watching what’s going on in California with Gavin Newsom trying to steal the Republican majority in Congress. We have drawn four congressional maps in the last six years in redistricting fights with Democrats because of their sue-until-blue strategy.
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. The Democrats are spreading lies to hurt President Trump.”
The rallying cry of "stop gerrymandering," "voter disenfranchisement," and occasionally both have been used by Democrats in litigation battles since Republicans' dramatic first-in-140-year takeover of majorities in both chambers of the Legislature in 2010. However, there have been similar complaints of earlier maps created by the party over the course of a century.
The 1st Congressional District and Berger's Senate seat are at issue in this dispute.
In 2024, U.S. Representative Don Davis (D-N.C. beat Republican Laurie Buckhout 49.5%-47.8%, with a mere 6,307 vote difference out of nearly 376,000. It was the most competitive of 14 congressional races in the state of North Carolina every other congressperson was decided by 13% or more.
Berger has been in the Senate since 2000, and he became a party leader in 2004. He has been on a clear path toward the longest-serving state Senate leader in the country since the unprecedented 2010 cycle. In 2026, he will likely face the toughest opponent he’s ever faced popular Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.
In his commentary on the most recent controversy, Page claimed to have heard that, in connection with an endorsement,
"Berger's team has been puffing out their chests and bragging they have President Donald J. Trump over a barrel."
He further wrote that if Trump
“wants those maps redrawn, that should come with no strings attached – but I guess Phil Berger doesn’t think so.”
What legal risks would redrawing Don Davis’s district pose?
Any division of a district must not undermine the voting strength of minority communities. The 1st Congressional District which Davis represents has a majority of Black constituents, thus a change may also be challenged in court for diluting Black voters' ability to elect their preferred candidates which violates federal law.
Courts have routinely invalidated plans that incorporate the splitting or packing of racial communities for electoral purposes. If Davis's district is redrawn in a way that appears to racially discriminate against its majority Black constituency, it risks considerable and inevitable costs associated with lawsuits.
District maps must be drawn based on equal populations, respecting communities of interest with the risk of extreme partisanship arguably amounting to unconstitutional gerrymandering.