Redistricting Changes Triad Legislative Boundaries

The North Carolina General Assembly has passed new versions of maps that lay out the boundaries of the state House and Senate. 

Here's a brief look at some of the changes in Triad districts:

The full House map is available here and the Senate version here. The maps will only be used in the 2020 election.

Critics of Guilford County's Senate maps have complained that the urban High Point voters are in a district that includes all of mostly-rural Randolph County.

The new maps don't change that. It includes some new precincts along the Guilford border but still pairs those voters with all of Randolph.

In Forsyth County, the current senate map has one district in an urban core and another that wraps around that district containing most of the county's suburban precincts.

The new maps divide the county almost in half. Incumbent Democrat Paul Lowe would still have many of the city's precincts but would also add western suburban precincts in Lewisville and Clemmons.

Republican incumbent Joyce Krawiec would have all the eastern Forsyth precincts while still having all of Davie County.

The court urged mapmakers to draw more compact districts. In Guilford County House districts, that's just what they did, tweaking the lines in its urban core and cutting back on precincts in the 59th seat held by Republican Jon Hardister.

For the most part, though, the constituencies will remain largely the same.

In Forsyth, Republican incumbents will see the most dramatic changes. Debra Conrad's district goes from the northern border of Forsyth to the southwestern part. And Donny Lambeth's goes from southern Forsyth to running the length of the county's eastern border with Guilford.

Lawmakers redrew almost half of the state's districts after a court found the current maps overly partisan in favor of Republicans. Districts in some larger, less populous parts of the state weren't included in the do-over, including districts in the High Country.

Gov. Roy Cooper cannot veto the map legislation, but the court will review the plans with the help of an outside expert.

The legislature was barred from using partisan data and election results in drawing the plans. So it's not immediately clear how the boundaries might affect Democrats' efforts to end Republican majorities in both chambers next year.