As in the previous two articles, this will break the new map down going from west to east. This would put the 11th up first, but there isn’t anything innately problematic about it per se. It comprises a mostly compact area, and only splits Polk County. However, it could be drawn to be more competitive by trading some turf to the east of Asheville for counties going up to Watauga along the Tennessee border. Doing so would put the seat around R+7.5 instead of R+12, and combine the western college communities (Asheville, Boone, and Cullowhee). The problem in doing so is it would double bunk Republican Reps. Foxx and Edwards, which would not fly with the current legislature. You can see this configuration below. Excess population is removed via the unincorporated communities of Broad River and Bat Cave in Buncombe and Henderson counties respectively. 

The first seriously problematic area to look at is the Piedmont Triad (Winston-Salem, High Point, and Greensboro). To begin with, the two counties (Forsyth and Guilford) are split four ways (shown below). There only needs to be one split between the two for population equality reasons, and barring four hypothetical splits taking only small populations off, such action is indicative of gerrymandering. Surely enough, those splits ensure that Republicans win all the intersecting seats by over 10 points. Democrats are cracked amongst multiple districts to dilute their influence, with Winston-Salem being offset by the Foothills, Greensboro being offset by the blue Ridge, and High Point being offset by the state’s central rural turf. 

Interestingly, however, the 10th district (bright blue in the map image) takes in both outer Guilford County and part of blue Fayetteville. It still sits at around R+14, but serves as an odd design choice. 

Next, we go to the Greater Charlotte area. The old district configuration here was subject to some controversy, splitting Mecklenburg County and Charlotte itself between two districts, which basically ensured two Democratic seats. The new map (shown below) splits Mecklenburg three ways, and packs Democrats into one district. 

What this map does is eliminate the chance of a competitive district by packing Democratic voters into one seat and cracking the excess between districts 8 and 14. One can also see that Cabarrus County to the northeast is cracked, separating Kannapolis and parts of Concord from a Charlotte-area seat, as the region is becoming more competitive. Republicans will say that this was done to ensure a VRA seat in Charlotte, which is fine, but creating a competitive district in the area is also possible (provided they don’t try to draw a seat for the Speaker of the State House). It also would have given Rep. Dan Bishop (R-Charlotte) some cover, as he is currently the only member of North Carolina’s delegation that doesn’t live in the seat he represents (but he’s running for Attorney General, so the point is moot).

How might a fairer configuration be drawn then? Below is something of a bare-minimum district in terms of overall fairness. Cabarrus and Union counties are kept whole and take in the whiter parts of outer Mecklenburg and the Wedge (white voters in downtown Charlotte). Some excess population in the north can be taken by a third district with fairness being retained, though splitting parts of outer Union or Cabarrus can be done to that only two whole districts taken in portions of Mecklenburg. 

The next area of issue is the Research Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) and its surrounding communities. This is the bluest part of the state, so a strategy like splitting the Triad four ways would not work here. Packing has to be done, but the area is only home to three seats normally (one Durham/CH, one Raleigh, and one suburban Wake/others). 

What Republicans did (shown below) is make the Durham/CH district as compact as possible, taking in the bluest parts of neighboring Chatham County and some of the booming Wake suburbs (ex. Cary, Apex). After drawing the Raleigh-centric seat, only a few, blue-leaning parts of the county were left, and these were taken in by a district that wrapped in a ring around the whole area. This was Rep. Wiley Nickel’s (D-Cary) old seat, and now no Democrat would have a chance at winning it. 

Now we go to the Sandhills, a frequent victim of redistricting maladies (even on fair maps). As the map below shows, the region is fairly evenly sliced up amongst four different districts. Fayetteville is also cut in half, which is unnecessary (though Cumberland county’s rural turf may be have to be cut up for population equality in some cases). A majority nonwhite district can be drawn in the area, which could serve to elect an African American or Lumbee representative. Robeson County, home to most of the Lumbee, is split in half, which seems to be a pointed attempt as discouraging such a thing. The region used to be one of the most reliably Democratic in the state, and Republicans took no chances with it. 

Last, but nowhere near the least of the offenses of the new map, is the NC-01 configuration in the Black Belt. North Carolina Republicans have long argued that there is no difference in voting patterns between Black and White voters, and have attempted to dismantle this VRA seat in a halfhearted way. The seat’s nonwhite population overall is about 52%, but in terms of CVAP, this drops to 49.3%, with whites in the majority. What the seat does (shown below) is group Black Voters in the more rural parts of the Black Belt with whites in parts of the Outer Banks and west of Goldsboro. White voters are represented in red, and nonwhites in other colors.

This seat was a viable VRA seat before because of the inclusion of Pitt County, home to Greenville, which has a large African American/nonwhite population. A version of the seat can be created that adds Greenville, drops the Outer Banks counties, and takes in the African American-dominant cities of Goldsboro and Kinston out of Wayne and Lenoir counties, respectively (shown below). This also would put the district around Biden+12, so it would reliably elect a candidate preferred by Black voters. 

As a closing note, North Carolina is one of the hardest states to redistrict. It's home to many different groups, a wide variety of population features, and several distinct regions. Because of all of this, no matter what a mapmaker does, some group or area is going to be disadvantaged to some degree. That being said, the new maps only serve to advantage Republican interests. They split communities of interest, disadvantage African Americans, and rip apart regions. Hopefully, court cases down the line will invalidate all or parts of the new map, and North Carolina will once again be able to have its voters choose its representatives, and not the other way around.