Trump Praises North Carolina GOP for New Gerrymander That Further Erodes Fair Representation

President Donald Trump publicly endorsed the North Carolina GOP’s latest congressional gerrymander Friday, celebrating a proposed map that would secure Republicans an additional U.S. House seat in 2026 — by further eroding fair representation for Black and Democratic voters.

“Thank you to North Carolina’s incredible Republican State Legislators, who just introduced a new, fair, and improved Congressional Map, a situation I am watching, and strongly supporting, very closely,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “I encourage all of my Republican friends in the North Carolina Legislature to work as hard as they can to pass this new Map so that we can continue our incredible Record of SUCCESS.”

The president’s post came just days after Republican lawmakers in Raleigh unveiled a mid-decade redistricting proposal that would entrench GOP control of as many as 11 of the state’s 14 congressional districts.

The new map zeroes in on North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District — currently represented by Rep. Don Davis (D) — by removing Democratic-leaning, majority-Black counties and replacing them with more Republican-leaning ones.

North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger (R) quickly thanked and reposted Trump’s endorsement, signaling the party’s alignment with Trump’s directive to “secure a MAGA majority” ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Voting rights advocates have condemned the move as another blatant partisan power grab, mirroring broader Republican strategies in other states where gerrymandering has been used to entrench minority rule. Similar maps in Texas and Missouri are now facing court challenges from voters and pro-voting groups.

North Carolina has redrawn its congressional district map at least three times since the 2020 Census.

The state’s previous map, adopted in 2023 after court challenges to earlier versions, already gave Republicans a 10-4 advantage in the U.S. House. That advantage came after the Republican-controlled North Carolina Supreme Court reversed an earlier decision that had struck down partisan gerrymanders as unconstitutional.

Once the court changed hands in 2023, the justices ruled that legislators were free to draw districts favoring their own party — effectively clearing the way for this new, even more extreme proposal. The same pattern is now playing out again, only this time at the direct encouragement of the president himself.

“The Republican legislative leaders in the North Carolina General Assembly have announced their shameful plan to further gerrymander North Carolina’s congressional maps,” Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, said in a statement. “This new map is designed to rig the outcome of elections and silence voters who disagree with them.”

But the proposal’s impact would extend far beyond one district. If enacted, it could cement GOP control over nearly 80% of North Carolina’s congressional delegation for the rest of the decade — in a state closely divided between Republicans and Democrats voters, and where elections are often decided by razor-thin margins. That imbalance would not just shape who represents North Carolina in Washington; it could also determine control of the U.S. House for the rest of the decade.

Gov. Josh Stein (D), who is unable to veto the plan, denounced the effort as a direct attack on the state’s voters.

“These shameless politicians are abusing their power to take away yours,” Stein said in a statement. “I will always fight for you because the voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.”

If the map passes, North Carolina will become the latest test case for whether state-level courts and grassroots organizing can counteract GOP manipulation of the redistricting process. Because the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Rucho v. Common Cause barred federal courts from hearing partisan gerrymandering claims, further challenges will have to rely on the state constitution and public pressure.

The General Assembly is expected to vote on the new districts next week. 

Even as lawsuits loom, Trump’s intervention makes clear that redistricting has become central to his political project — using map lines that voters themselves never approved to rig the 2026 elections and beyond.