(The Center Square) – Six vetoed bills are on the calendar of the House of Representatives in North Carolina on Tuesday, and the Select Committee on Redistricting in the afternoon will take up the new congressional maps passed by the Senate on Monday evening.
Realign Congressional Districts 2025, known also as Senate Bill 249, passed the upper chamber 25-20. Democrats were united and all present; Republicans were united though five listed excused absences.
The House has previously scheduled the veto overrides. Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, has pledged to get all six through his chamber with 71-49 majority Republicans and needing a Democrat to join if all 120 are present in order to reach the three-fifths majority threshold.
Only one attempt per bill is permitted.
Hustling through the hallways off Jones Street, however, and drawing national attention is the congressional map redraw. These are usually done after the decennial census; litigation has grinded into the process for more than a decade; and this decade has included 2022 midterms with a map drawn by court-appointed special masters and a 2024 cycle with a map drawn by the Legislature as constitutionally mandated.
The effort for the 2026 midterms is response to redrawn maps elsewhere in the country, namely in California, and a request from second-term Republican President Donald Trump. Republicans will be trying to retain majority in the U.S. House where they have 219 members, Democrats have 213 and there are three vacancies.
The masters’ maps in 2022 yielded an expected 7-7 split of North Carolinians to the Beltway. The legislative maps in 2024 yielded a 10-4 Republican edge to Washington, with only one race – the 1st Congressional District – closer than 13% difference. Republicans’ majority in the U.S. House was 220-215 with wins on Election Day.
SB249 will leave 12 of 14 districts untouched and reshape the 1st and 3rd, making the former more Republican according to recent voting trends and the latter less Republican though still significant majority. Overall, if implemented, the map is projected to make North Carolina 11-3 in representation.
Beaufort, Hyde, Dare, Craven, Pamlico and Carteret counties would change from the 3rd to the 1st; Wilson, Wayne, Greene and Lenoir would change from the 1st to the 3rd.
Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., represents the 1st and Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., represents the 3rd.
This is a bill that is not subject to gubernatorial veto. Litigation would be expected.
Republican policies have prevailed in eight veto overrides of first-term Gov. Josh Stein already this session. All took place July 29.
The six vetoes that could be voted on are Freedom to Carry NC (Senate Bill 50); North Carolina Border Protection Act (SB153); Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI (House Bill 171); Eliminating “DEI” in Public Education (SB227); Eliminating “DEI” in Public Higher Education (SB558); and Expedited Removal of Unauthorized Person (HB96).
