Democrats need 6 seats in 2020 to have a say in decade of maps. Can they do it?

RALEIGH -- After a lawsuit succeeded in striking down many of the North Carolina General Assembly’s political districts — with new maps approved earlier this week — Democrats think they have a shot at gaining power at the legislature in the 2020 elections.

“The new maps certainly don’t guarantee a Democratic majority, but they make it easier for us to get a majority,” said Democratic Rep. Graig Meyer of Hillsborough in an interview Wednesday.

The legislature holds new elections every two years, but the 2020 elections are perhaps the most important since 2010.

That’s because in the first year of each new decade, after new Census data comes out, the state legislature starts a redistricting process to draw new political maps for the U.S. House, NC House and NC Senate. And since the state constitution forbids the governor from vetoing redistricting bills, Democrats will have to win at least one chamber in the legislature next year if they want a say in the next decade’s worth of redistricting.

Read more: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article236826218.html
(Raleigh News & Observer)