Redistricting

The U.S. Supreme Court has told North Carolina's top court to reconsider a redistricting lawsuit filed by Democrats and allies after the nation's highest court struck down congressional districts as racial gerrymanders.

Updated 4:31 p.m., May 22, 2017

The Supreme Court struck down two congressional districts in North Carolina Monday because race played too large a role in their creation.

In the North Carolina General Assembly, the GOP retained veto-proof majorities in both chambers thanks at least in part to gerrymandered legislative districts.

State Lawmakers' 2013 finagling with the Wake County election maps made it possible for high turnover on the largely Democratic school board this election. Voters weighed in on all nine school board offices. But six out of seven running incumbents kept their seats on Tuesday. Three ran unopposed, and three others won handily against their challengers.

Roy Cooper widened his fundraising lead over Pat McCrory in the third quarter, according to campaign finance disclosures.

During the quarter, Cooper, the Democratic challenger, raised more than $9 million compared with $5.3 million raised by McCrory, the Republican incumbent governor. That widened the fundraising margin this election cycle to $21.8 million for Cooper and $13.9 million for McCrory, as of Sept. 30.

Early voter turnout data make it only harder to predict North Carolina elections for president, senate and governor.

On Thursday, a day on which early voting sites increased throughout the state, the only clear trend showed that unaffiliated voters have turned out in higher numbers than before, making a hard-to-predict election that much harder.

Incumbent Sen. Richard Burr continued to hold a fundraising lead over Deborah Ross, his Democratic challenger for the U.S. Senate.

Through the third quarter in this election cycle, Burr had total receipts of nearly $11 million, compared to $8.4 million for Ross, though her campaign has been raising money only for about one year and his has raised cash since Jan. 1, 2015.

In North Carolina, liberal groups have outspent conservatives on television, and Roy Cooper has outraised Pat McCrory, according to the most recent campaign finance reports available.

Cooper had raised 47 percent more money from 76 percent more contributions than McCrory through June 30, the most recent date for which campaign finance information is available.

Throughout the state, legislative incumbents are facing familiar challengers.

In 13 North Carolina legislative races this year, the incumbent faces the exact same challenger as two years ago. In some of these rematches, the margin of victory last election was close, and the loser will need to flip only a few hundred votes to come out on top in 2016.

State lawmakers completed a chaotic final day of the legislative session in Raleigh on Friday, giving final approval to a $22.34 billion dollar state budget before sending it on to the Governor.

A three judge panel at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down two General Assembly redistricting measures. The ruling caught lawmakers at a chaotic time, as they’re holding closed-door meetings to consider changes to House Bill 2, while trying to adjourn for the year, prior to the July 4th weekend.

Ted Budd, a gun shop owner from Davie County and a first-time political candidate, took the Republican party’s nomination for the 13th Congressional District on Tuesday night. He emerges from a field of 17 candidates for a seat that will favor the GOP nominee in the November general election.

State Rep. Pricey Harrison, D- Guilford, wants to reinvigorate a bill to create a nonpartisan redistricting commission.

She joined a bipartisan coalition pushing for reform at a press conference last week.

North Carolina lawmakers met a Friday deadline to complete a court-ordered rewrite of the state's congressional voting maps. They also postponed the congressional primary until June 7. 

The new plans will move forward after the U.S. Supreme Court late Friday declined Republican lawmakers' request to stay the lower court order. Here are some of the key takeaways from the redesign:

Why did the General Assembly re-draw the maps?

Republican legislative leaders proposed a new outline for North Carolina’s 13 congressional districts on Wednesday, moving two incumbents out of districts they represent and likely pushing the primary elections for congress past the scheduled March 15 date.

Lawmakers, responding to a federal court ruling that said they had racially gerrymandered some congressional districts in 2011 and ordering them to draw new ones, presented maps that would rearrange almost all of the state’s voting lines. The proposal would keep the delegation’s 10-3 Republican majority.

North Carolina Republican legislators said on Tuesday that they want to keep racial considerations out of consideration when drawing new congressional district lines for the state, even as they hope the U.S. Supreme Court will issue an order telling them they can continue using current voting maps.

A Republican-led special redistricting committee voted to draw maps using political party information from elections since 2008 -- but not voters’ race. They will use the criteria to ensure Republicans keep their 10 to 3 majority in the state’s congressional delegation.