North Carolina Republicans have approved a new congressional map aimed at removing one House Democrat from his seat. The new map is the latest in a series of changes to Congress’s district lines in what is quickly becoming a war between the two major parties. 

The redistricting battle — started by President Trump and aimed at preventing a Democratic takeover of the House in next year’s midterm elections — started over the summer, with Texas redrawing maps to net the GOP five new seats in the House, where Republicans have only a three-seat majority. California then proposed changes to its district lines, which are set to be approved in November by voters. That move then led Missouri and North Carolina to start eliminating Democratic seats. 

The North Carolina state senate approved the new congressional district on Tuesday, and the state house followed quickly on Wednesday, with all Republicans voting yes. Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat, does not have the power to veto the map changes under his state’s constitution. 

Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican who is retiring, tells the New York Sun that he does not love the idea of mid-decade redistricting. Prior to his election to the Senate in 2014, Mr. Tillis served as speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives. 

“The political physics are real. We will lose the majority someday. When that is, I don’t know,” Mr. Tillis tells the Sun. “Past behavior is always mirrored by the opposing party in equal proportion when it’s their turn.”

“If [Republicans] are doing it to respond to the politics of the day, they’ll probably live to regret it. I hope not, as a Republican who was the speaker,” he added. 

The lead sponsor of the map changes, state senator Ralph Hise, said explicitly during a committee hearing on Monday that his party was doing this on behalf of Mr. Trump.  “Republicans hold a razor-thin margin in the United States House of Representatives, and if Democrats flip four seats in the upcoming midterm elections, they will take control of the House and torpedo President Trump’s agenda,” Mr. Hise said. 

“President Trump has called on Republican-controlled states to fight fire with fire. This map answers that call,” Mr. Hise declared.

Congressman Don Davis, the Democrat whose district is now moving from a toss-up to a district that Mr. Trump would have won by double-digits last year, says he plans to run again in 2026 regardless of what happens with the congressional maps. 

In a statement Tuesday, he said no one in his district has been asking for this change. “In the 2024 election with record voter turnout, NC’s First Congressional District elected both President Trump and me,” Mr. Davis wrote. Both he and Mr. Trump narrowly won the district last year. 

“Since the start of this new term, my office has received 46,616 messages from constituents of different political parties, including those unaffiliated, expressing a range of opinions, views, and requests. Not a single one of them included a request for a new congressional map redrawing eastern North Carolina,” Mr. Davis said. “Clearly, this new congressional map is beyond the pale.”

North Carolina Democrats protested at the state house on Wednesday, demanding that Republicans abandon their plans for drawing Mr. Davis’s district in such a way that disenfranchises their party. If the map survives the inevitable legal challenges, Republicans would have a strong advantage in 11 of the state’s 14 districts, while the remaining three districts would be solidly Democratic. 

Top Democrats are already predicting that the state legislature could face a lawsuit as a result of the redistricting effort. “I’d be shocked if there was not legal action,” the state house Democratic leader, Robert Reives, told reporters Wednesday, according to NC Newsline.