RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican legislative leaders announced plans Monday to vote next week on redrawing the state's U.S. House district map, taking up President Donald Trump’s call to secure more GOP seats nationwide and resist rival moves by Democrats.
The push to retool already right-leaning boundaries for the ninth-largest state comes amid a major party battle spanning several states to revamp district lines to partisan advantage ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
North Carolina Republicans created a map in 2023 that resulted in GOP candidates winning 10 of the state’s 14 U.S. House seats in 2024. That compared to a 7-7 seat split between Democrats and the GOP under the map used in 2022.
Now only one of the House districts –- the 1st District currently represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis –- is considered a true swing district and could be targeted by the GOP for an 11th seat. Davis won a second term last year by less than 2 percentage points, so shifting slightly portions of the district covering more than 20 northeastern counties could help a Republican candidate in a strong GOP year. But it could weaken districts held by GOP incumbents.
The state's top Republican legislators said their planned action follows Trump’s "call urging legislatures across the country to take action to nullify Democrat redistricting efforts.” Davis wasn't mentioned by name in their news release.
Trump "earned a clear mandate from the voters of North Carolina and the rest of the country, and we intend to defend it by drawing an additional Republican Congressional seat," House Speaker Destin Hall said in the release. Trump has won North Carolina's electoral votes all three times that he's been on the presidential ballot.
But state House Democratic leader Robert Reives said Monday his GOP colleagues “are stealing a congressional district in order to shield themselves from accountability at the ballot box.”
Trump kickstarted the national redistricting battle over the summer by urging Republican-led Texas to reshape its U.S. House districts so the GOP could win more seats next year. After overcoming a Democratic walkout, Texas lawmakers redrew the districts to give Republicans a shot at five more seats.
California Democrats reciprocated by passing their own redistricting plan aimed at helping their party win five additional seats, a plan needing voter approval in November to be implemented.
And lawmakers in Republican-led Missouri have approved revised U.S. House districts intended to help Republicans pick up an additional seat there. Other states also are considering redistricting, including Republican-led Indiana and Kansas.
Some North Carolina GOP lawmakers focused complaints Monday on California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who advanced his state's redistricting effort.
“Picking up where Texas left off, we will hold votes in our October session to redraw North Carolina’s congressional map to ensure Gavin Newsom doesn’t decide the congressional majority,” Senate leader Phil Berger said.
Responding on X, Newsom called Berger “another lap dog Republican” and accused the GOP of “rigging elections and trying to cover it up with lies.”
North Carolina lawmakers already had planned for a multiday session starting Oct. 20. Republicans hold majorities in both General Assembly chambers and redistricting plans aren’t subject to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s veto stamp. Candidate filing for 2026 is supposed to begin Dec. 1.
Addressing voters, Stein said in a statement that “shameless politicians are abusing their power to take away yours” with a redraw.
An intensely competitive midterm election looms in which Democrats need to gain just three seats to take control of the House. The president’s party historically has lost seats in midterm elections, something Trump is trying to avoid. A Democratic takeover could impede Trump’s agenda and lead to investigations of his actions, as occurred during his first term in office.
If and how North Carolina legislators create a more favorable redraw may depend on pending litigation filed by the state NAACP, Common Cause and voters challenging several current congressional districts, including the one represented by Davis, one of three Black representatives from North Carolina. The plaintiffs accuse Republican lawmakers of racially discriminating against Black voters by splitting or packing their voting blocs to help GOP candidates win. The trial ended in July without an immediate ruling.
U.S. House districts typically are redrawn once a decade, after a census. But some states have no prohibition on doing it more frequently. And the U.S. Supreme Court has said there is no federal prohibition on political gerrymandering, in which districts are intentionally drawn to favor one party.
Opponents have filed lawsuits alleging Texas’ latest redistricting unconstitutionally dilutes the votes of minority residents and that Missouri’s mid-decade redistricting isn’t allowed under the state constitution. Meanwhile, Utah’s Republican-led Legislature recently endorsed an altered congressional map — though in response to a court order, not Trump’s demands.
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This story has been corrected to show North Carolina's 1st District covers more than 20 counties, not less than 20.
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Associated Press writers David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri and Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan contributed to this report.
FILE - North Carolina state House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, left, speaks while state Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, listens during a news conference at the North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., Sept. 11, 2025 (AP Photo/Gary D. Robertson, File)
FILE - The North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh, June 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera, File)
BASEL, Switzerland & CHASSIEU, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 18, 2025--
Amoebas. These single-celled microorganisms are now at the heart of one of agriculture’s latest biological innovation – a bio-fungicide capable of protecting wheat and other cereal crops from crippling fungal diseases that cost global agriculture billions of dollars in annual crop losses and quality.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251117217798/en/
This new development, made from the lysate of the amoeba Willaertia magna C2c Maky, holds strong potential to advance biological crop protection. In trials, the candidate demonstrated its effectiveness in combating the fungi responsible for these fungal diseases and helped activate the plants' defence responses. As a next‑generation biological, it is built on a biological active substance and designed to fit modern integrated crop management.
Syngenta Crop Protection, a global leader in biologicals and other innovative crop protection technologies, and French greentech innovator Amoéba SA, have now signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop and commercialize groundbreaking biocontrol solutions for the EU and UK markets, focusing on cereals and field crops. The parties plan to negotiate a definitive distribution agreement with a target timeline of spring 2026. This strategic collaboration aims to offer farmers advanced biological solutions that enhance the sustainability of their farming practices, address the challenge of increasing pest resistance to existing products, and offer relief to farmers facing a shrinking toolbox of crop protection technologies.
The initial focus of the partnership will be on combating the main wheat diseases, namely septoria tritici blotch (STB) and yellow rust. These two diseases are among the most economically damaging wheat diseases across Europe and the UK, impacting an estimated 9-12 million hectares of wheat annually. In Germany alone, STB causes yield losses of 5-50% and costs of €1.5 billion annually, while yellow rust can reduce yields by 10-70% and even lead to total crop failure in susceptible varieties, according to recognized industry and academic sources.
Matthew Pickard, Syngenta’s Head of Seedcare and Biologicals for Europe, said: “At Syngenta, we are committed to deliver advanced, effective biological solutions at the cutting edge of science. We’re proud to work with Amoéba to offer nature-inspired solutions that empower farmers in these important markets.”
“We are very pleased with the collaboration with Syngenta, a global leader in agricultural innovation,” affirms Benoit Villers,Chairman of the Board of Amoéba and Jean-François Doucet, CEO of Amoéba. "This agreement, which should lead to distribution and development partnerships between our two companies, is a major step forward for Amoéba. It gives us the opportunity to combine our scientific expertise with Syngenta's widely recognised leadership in cereal protection and the marketing of biocontrol solutions. Finally, it perfectly illustrates how collaboration between innovators in the sector can make a difference for farmers while paving the way for broader applications in field crops."
Founded in 2010, Amoéba has developed a patented biocontrol application based on lysate from the amoeba Willaertia magna, which received the prestigious Bernard Blum Gold Medal in October 2025 as the most promising biocontrol solution worldwide. In June 2025, the active substance received EU approval following EFSA’s scientific assessment and a European Commission decision. Product‑specific authorizations are in progress.
About Syngenta
Syngenta is a global leader in agricultural innovation with a presence in more than 90 countries. Syngenta is focused on developing technologies and farming practices that empower farmers, so they can make the transformation required to feed the world’s population while preserving our planet. Its bold scientific discoveries deliver better benefits for farmers and society on a bigger scale than ever before. Guided by its Sustainability Priorities, Syngenta is developing new technologies and solutions that support farmers to grow healthier plants in healthier soil with a higher yield. Syngenta Crop Protection is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland; Syngenta Seeds is headquartered in the United States. Read our stories and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & X.
About Amoéba
Founded in 2010, Amoéba is a greentech company based in Chassieu (Lyon, France) whose ambition is to become a major player in the treatment of microbiological risk based on the patented use of amoebae in the plant protection and cosmetics sectors.
With know-how that is unique in the world and protected by numerous patents, Amoéba is currently the only company capable of exploiting the full potential of the Willaertia amoeba on an industrial scale and cultivating it in sufficient volumes to offer biological solutions that constitute a viable alternative to the chemical products widely used today. Amoéba is currently focusing on the global biocontrol market for plant protection and on the cosmetics market. As the marketing of plant protection products is subject to obtaining local regulatory authorisations, the Company has carried out the necessary regulatory procedures and filed registration dossiers in Europe and the United States. The active substance has obtained approval in 2022 in the USA and in 2025 in Europe. Product approvals have been granted in the USA and are expected in the coming months in Europe.
The cosmetic application does not require prior approval from a competent authority in Europe or the United States. The cosmetic ingredient is already registered on the INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) list, paving the way for it to be marketed worldwide except in China, where local approval is required.
Amoéba is listed on Euronext Growth (ALMIB). The company is a member of the Bpifrance Excellence network and is eligible for the PEA-PME scheme.
For more information, visit www.amoeba-nature.com
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This document may contain forward-looking statements, which can be identified by terminology such as ‘expect’, ‘would’, ‘will’, ‘potential’, ‘plans’, ‘prospects’, ‘estimated’, ‘aiming’, ‘on track’ and similar expressions. Such statements may be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these statements. For Syngenta, such risks and uncertainties include risks relating to legal proceedings, regulatory approvals, new product development, increasing competition, customer credit risk, general economic and market conditions, compliance and remediation, intellectual property rights, implementation of organizational changes, impairment of intangible assets, consumer perceptions of genetically modified crops and organisms or crop protection chemicals, climatic variations, fluctuations in exchange rates and/or commodity prices, single source supply arrangements, political uncertainty, natural disasters, and breaches of data security or other disruptions of information technology. Syngenta assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changed assumptions or other factors.
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Syngenta and Amoeba SA to develop and commercialize biocontrol solutions for EU and UK
