How Gerrymandering Silenced North Carolina's Cities

When North Carolina’s legislative leaders were ordered to redraw the state’s 13 congressional districts in 2016, they gave their hired mapmaker an explicit instruction: Maximize the Republican Party’s electoral advantage.

North Carolina is a purple state, closely divided in its support of the two major parties. State Representive David Lewis, senior chair of the House Select Committee on Redistricting, nonetheless wanted to see more red on the congressional map. “I acknowledge freely that this would be a political gerrymander, which is not against the law,” he said at a committee meeting. “I propose that we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to 10 Republicans and 3 Democrats because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and 2 Democrats.”