The proposed North Carolina Senate redistricting maps grow Democratic Sen. Martin Nesbitt‘s 49th District to encompass most of Buncombe County. Republican Sen. Tom Apodaca‘s 48th District meanwhile, loses Polk County but gains Transylvania. His district also expands slightly to include all of Henderson County and part of southern Buncombe.
Legislators will hold public hearings on the new maps July 18 from 3 to 9 p.m. at locations across the state. Local hearing locations will include A-B Tech and Western Carolina University.
“Obviously they’re going to try to draw something favorable to them,” Nesbitt, the minority leader, said in a press conference earlier today. He criticized the process, asserting that there has been no committee vote on the maps, and that it was “unprecedented” that many members hadn’t seen the maps yet.
“We don’t expect anything good, but we deserve to have the maps in our hands,” he said.
Nesbitt’s proposed district has a lower percentage of Democrats than his old district did when it was established in 2003 (dropping from 49 to 45 percent), more unaffiliated (rising from 20 to 28 percent) and less Republicans (dropping from 29 to 25 percent). Apodaca’s new district has less Democrats than his old one (dropping from 32 percent to 29 percent) but also less Republicans (dropping from 44 to 38 percent) and more unaffiliated voters (22 to 31 percent).
Below are the proposed state maps, compared to the current districts, along with maps of Nesbitt’s proposed district and current district.
The proposed N.C. Senate districts
Current N.C. Senate districts, established in 2003
Nesbitt’s new, proposed 49th Senate District
Nesbitt’s current district
— David Forbes, senior news reporter
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