A federal trial over North Carolina’s Congressional and state senate maps wrapped up Wednesday in Winston-Salem.
At issue is whether some of the boundaries are gerrymandered along racial lines. Attorneys for GOP mapmakers in the state legislature say they are legally drawn along partisan lines, and race was not considered.
In closing arguments, attorneys for the plaintiffs, including the NAACP, described a rushed and secretive process that resulted in the maps used in the 2024 election.
They argued that Black voters in counties including Guilford, Forsyth and Mecklenburg were sorted into sprawling districts packed with rural white voters who didn’t share their political views.
They want the three-judge panel presiding over the case to find the maps unconstitutional.
Katherine McKnight, an attorney for the legislative defendants, said the plaintiffs did not prove that racial concerns were used over partisan ones when the lines were drawn.
The case also involves a handful of senate seats in the eastern part of the state.
Before last year’s election, North Carolina’s congressional delegation was a testament to its status as a purple state. Seven of the 14 were Republican, and seven, Democrat.
But GOP mapmakers redrew the lines for 2024, resulting in a 10-4 Republican tilt. Three districts were so skewed toward the GOP that the incumbent Democrats chose not to run again, including former Rep. Kathy Manning of Greensboro.
It isn't clear when the judges will rule, but it’s not likely to be soon. Attorneys on both sides have until Aug. 5 to make their post-trial filings.