With State Control, North Carolina Republicans Pursue Smaller Prizes

Brennan Center

The New York Times highlighted the North Carolina legislature’s recent efforts to alter the structure of many county and municipal bodies. Legislators claim these measures are intended to protect rural voters, but critics argue they are simply an attempt by Republicans to tighten their control over all levels of government.

RALEIGH, N.C. — In 2011, soon after Republicans won control of the North Carolina General Assembly for the first time since Reconstruction, they set about redrawing congressional and state legislative districts to maximize their advantage, setting off legal challenges and bitter complaints from their rivals.

But there is a new frontier in the battles over how democracy should work in North Carolina. And it is local.

This session, bills introduced by Republican lawmakers would reconfigure a number of local government bodies around the state, prompting allegations that Republicans are gerrymandering and changing election rules at the city council and county commission levels.

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