Trump’s Midcycle Gerrymandering Disease Spreads to North Carolina
This is your TPM evening briefing.
The North Carolina GOP is Notorious for Ratfuckery
North Carolina’s Republican leaders in the state legislature announced on Monday that they plan to hold a vote next week on redrawing North Carolina’s district map for U.S. House seats. But in announcing their plans to act on President Trump’s pressure campaign — the White House has forced Republican state legislatures around the nation to redraw maps ahead of the midterms to help their party hold the House — North Carolina Republicans framed the move as some sort of necessary response to Democrats‘ mid-decade redistricting efforts (which, to the extent they have gotten off the ground, are a response to Republicans’ successful Texas gerrymander).
It’s some of the most ambitious spin we’ve seen yet on this front. But apparently the messaging came straight from the president. Here are the statements announcing the upcoming vote, first from Republican state House Speaker Destin Hall:
“President Trump earned a clear mandate from the voters of North Carolina and the rest of the country, and we intend to defend it by drawing an additional Republican Congressional seat. Our state won’t stand by while Democrats like Gavin Newsom redraw districts to aid in their effort to obtain a majority in the U.S. House. We will not allow them to undermine the will of the voters and President Trump’s agenda.”
And another from Republican state Senate Leader Phil Berger:
“… We are doing everything we can to protect President Trump’s agenda, which means safeguarding Republican control of Congress. Picking up where Texas left off, we will hold votes in our October session to redraw North Carolina’s congressional map to ensure Gavin Newsom doesn’t decide the congressional majority.”
These are, of course, the same guys who, in the waning days of their supermajority in 2024, voted to strip power over election administration from the state’s then-newly elected Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. So the fact that they have fully caved to Trump’s demands on gerrymandering is not terribly surprising. It was a question of when, not if.
There are other reasons why North Carolina is a state in which Republicans are known for their ratfuckery. In 2023, they created a U.S. House map that took a sledgehammer to the seven-to-seven seat split between Democrats and Republicans in the state that had been in place in 2022. Their new map passed in 2023 resulted in Republicans winning 10 of North Carolina’s 14 seats in the U.S. House in 2024.
It’s not yet clear what U.S. House seat currently held by a Democrat in North Carolina will be targeted, but many are already speculating that it will be the seat held by Rep. Don Davis (D-NC), the state’s 1st Congressional District. Per CNN:
Davis won a second term last year by less than 2 percentage points, so slightly shifting portions of the district covering more than 20 northeastern counties could help a Republican candidate in a strong GOP year. But it could weaken districts held by GOP incumbents.
The state House Democratic leader Rep. Robert Reives accused his Republican colleagues of trying to “disenfranchise the voters of this state” and distract from the policies being enacted by their Republican representatives in Washington, D.C., including cuts to Medicaid that are having a significant impact in the state.
“Republican lawmakers made clear today that they plan to come back to Raleigh and disenfranchise the voters of this state. Instead of lowering costs for families or ensuring Medicaid can stay afloat, they are hellbent on consolidating as much power as they can,” Reives said in a statement. “Call it what it is: They are stealing a congressional district in order to shield themselves from accountability at the ballot box.”
There’s little North Carolina Democrats can do to stop their Republican colleagues from acting on Trump’s nationwide gerrymandering directive. Republicans hold the majority in both the state House and Senate and lawmakers were already scheduled to return to the state Capitol for a legislative session on October 20. Additionally, redistricting plans are apparently not subject to the governor’s veto.
Stein posted on Twitter Monday shortly after Republican state legislature leadership made their announcement saying, “these shameless politicians are abusing their power to take away yours.”
— Nicole LaFond
News Outlets Reject Pentagon Press Restrictions
Many news outlets have made announcements in recent days that their reporters will not sign on to the Trump administration’s new rules for covering the Pentagon, arguing the restrictions violate the press’ First Amendment rights, among other things. The Pentagon gave news outlets until 5:00 p.m. ET Tuesday to sign onto the new restrictions or turn in their press credentials. The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsmax and NPR have put out statements saying they would not adhere to the new rules. CNN and the Guardian said they planned to oppose the new measure as well.
The new regulations are in line with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ongoing efforts to physically restrict journalists’ access to the Pentagon and to place limits on their reporting abilities in the building. More details on the new restrictions, per the Times:
The 21-page Pentagon document lays out a number of requirements at odds with freedom of press protections, according to lawyers representing news organizations. One is a provision stating that journalists could be deemed a “security risk” based on several considerations, including whether they disclose classified or even unclassified information without the Pentagon’s authorization. Media lawyers worry that the stricture could expose reporters to punishment for engaging in routine reporting.
Some right-wing news outlets, like One America News Network, have signed on to the new policy.
For his part, Hegseth does not care:
More from NPR’s Tom Bowman: Why I’m handing in my Pentagon press pass
— Nicole LaFond
Alex Jones Must Pay
The Supreme Court on Tuesday summarily ended right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ last-ditch effort to wriggle out of a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit brought by the families of Sandy Hook victims.
Plaintiffs said that Jones, on his “news” platform InfoWars, called the 2012 massacre of 20 first graders and six adults “staged” and a “hoax.”
Default judgments were entered against Jones in two different courts when he repeatedly refused to produce court-ordered evidence; one judge cited his “flagrant bad faith and callous disregard” for the process, while another called it “willful noncompliance.” The juries convened in both cases found him liable for upwards of $1.4 billion.
The Supreme Court wordlessly rejecting his emergency appeal — in which he refers repeatedly to the “Death Penalty Sanction” — leaves the judgment in place.
— Kate Riga
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