North Carolina 2020 Redistricting

[ProgressiveModerate]

https://twitter.com/DallasWoodhouse/status/1494078122626633731?cxt=HHwWhsC-3d6Ih...

I'm more curious about the state legislative maps; I think it's more likely than not they don't survive the decade, however, the rules around this are quite vague.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Least change NC map attempt. The Tech Triad is the area that needs the most reconfiguration thanks to insane growth and also it's the most logical place to squeeze in the 14th seat (which would've narrowly gone to Biden). All the other seats are pretty self-explanatory

[ProgressiveModerate]

Least change NC map attempt. The Tech Triad is the area that needs the most reconfiguration thanks to insane growth and also it's the most logical place to squeeze in the 14th seat (which would've narrowly gone to Biden). All the other seats are pretty self-explanatory

Your 14th is pretty strange: why split Cumberland to put Fayettville (not in the Triangle) into the 14th but not Johnston County (actually in the Triangle)?

I was debating it but the remaining half of Johnson County is less populated with Fayetteville which makes things a bit weird. I could try having the 7th take in all of Cumberland but it just works out weirdly population wise.



Here's a quick attempt; Cumberland pretty much has to be split unless the 14th takes in Pender County

[ProgressiveModerate]

Least change NC map attempt. The Tech Triad is the area that needs the most reconfiguration thanks to insane growth and also it's the most logical place to squeeze in the 14th seat (which would've narrowly gone to Biden). All the other seats are pretty self-explanatory

Your 14th is pretty strange: why split Cumberland to put Fayettville (not in the Triangle) into the 14th but not Johnston County (actually in the Triangle)?

I was debating it but the remaining half of Johnson County is less populated with Fayetteville which makes things a bit weird. I could try having the 7th take in all of Cumberland but it just works out weirdly population wise.



Here's a quick attempt; Cumberland pretty much has to be split unless the 14th takes in Pender County

Cumberland may have to be split but it's better to keep Johnston whole and take less of Cumberland than more.

Yeah I think this 2nd map is better the more I think about it, even if it looks uglier.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Dang the proposed State House map just passed with near unanimous support.

Seems like the CD map gonna be the real sticker here.

[ProgressiveModerate]

This very much feels akin to OHs first map.

Contain Ds to as few seats as possible but still lots of competitive seats.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Ye as others have said, the map is pretty good, but there's def some obviously sloppy things that are just like why... most notably cracking Fayetteville.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Lowkey kinda wish they had slightly more competitive districts. This map only gonna be in place 2 years anyways most likely, but feel like they missed out on several opportunities to do so.

[ProgressiveModerate]

This map is very poorly drawn in a way that doesn't really effect results--for example, Cary, Apex, and Raleigh and sliced down the middle when that cut could be easily shifted to one.

It kind of looks like somebody's first shot ever at making a map, tbh.

Was thinking the same thing. Seems like the justices kinda just opened DRA and mígueles around till they were satisfied.

Again, this map isn’t bad, it just seems a bit strange. My biggest issues are with Fayetteville and NC-02

[ProgressiveModerate]

Can't wait until this abomination is redrawn next year.

Sorry you hate fair maps. Cry more.

A fair map of North Carolina would respect communities of interest.

This while not perfect, does a better job at that than any of the abominations the GOP drew over the last decade in NC.

No way. The original 2020s map was better.

Yes because pushing a Charlotte district AND a Greensboro district WELL out into rural areas made a ton of sense from a COI point of view.  This is a much more compact map than the initial map that was passed

1. Didn't say it made sense. Just said it was better.

2. Yeah. Compact and COI violating.

How was the initial map better from a COI standpoint?  Greensboro all the way out to where??   South Charlotte combined with what??

Had a only in Wake district, put Durham and Chapel Hill with Cary, didn't split Charlotte in two, pretty easily better.

This map also has a entirely Wake based seat, doesn't split Greensboro, increases NC-01 black functionality and also opportunity in NC-06, and doesn't put as many rurals with suburbs they have little connection too.

[ProgressiveModerate]

I really hate Republicans:

https://twitter.com/stevenmazie/status/1497334606948827138?s=20&t=F2JLfVoQLk...

If the GOP wins this case, does Ohio have to use its previously struck down map as well?

Don't they also risk allowing Dem trifectas to draw CA, CO, and WA? I think this is extremely unlikely, but if SCOTUS overturns all non-legislative drawn maps, Dems in Cali should have no sympathy.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Can't wait until this abomination is redrawn next year.

Sorry you hate fair maps. Cry more.

A fair map of North Carolina would respect communities of interest.

This while not perfect, does a better job at that than any of the abominations the GOP drew over the last decade in NC.

No way. The original 2020s map was better.

Yes because pushing a Charlotte district AND a Greensboro district WELL out into rural areas made a ton of sense from a COI point of view.  This is a much more compact map than the initial map that was passed

1. Didn't say it made sense. Just said it was better.

2. Yeah. Compact and COI violating.

How was the initial map better from a COI standpoint?  Greensboro all the way out to where??   South Charlotte combined with what??

Had a only in Wake district, put Durham and Chapel Hill with Cary, didn't split Charlotte in two, pretty easily better.

This map also has a entirely Wake based seat, doesn't split Greensboro, increases NC-01 black functionality and also opportunity in NC-06, and doesn't put as many rurals with suburbs they have little connection too.

I was thinking of the older maps re: Wake. I don't think race should be a deciding factor in determining maps. The new map splits Charlotte, splits Raleigh, draws Chapel Hill to rurals (which is way worse than any suburban-rural configuration, btw), and artificially gerrymanders to get Dems to 7 seats.

I agree this map isn’t the best on a granular level; I think NC-02 should be more rotated to be Raleigh based, however, none of the Dem seats are really artificial. A truly fair map would likely have a black belt seat, Raleigh seat, Durham/Chapel Hill seat, Greensboro seat, and Charlotte seat with a D leaning swing seat in Charlotte, a swing seat in Sandhills, and a swing seat of Raleigh burbs. My bigger issue with this map from a partisanship standpoint is the lack of competitive districts.

Furthermore, I really don’t get why Cary fits better with Durham/Chapel Hill than a suburban Raleigh seat? Burlington doesn’t seem like a terrible pairing and after that you don’t have much rurales attached.

Also, you personally may not think race should be a factor but right now VRA says it is, so too bad. Either way, wouldn’t rural/small city black communities be a clear COI?

[ProgressiveModerate]

Can't wait until this abomination is redrawn next year.

Sorry you hate fair maps. Cry more.

A fair map of North Carolina would respect communities of interest.

This while not perfect, does a better job at that than any of the abominations the GOP drew over the last decade in NC.

No way. The original 2020s map was better.

Yes because pushing a Charlotte district AND a Greensboro district WELL out into rural areas made a ton of sense from a COI point of view.  This is a much more compact map than the initial map that was passed

1. Didn't say it made sense. Just said it was better.

2. Yeah. Compact and COI violating.

How was the initial map better from a COI standpoint?  Greensboro all the way out to where??   South Charlotte combined with what??

Had a only in Wake district, put Durham and Chapel Hill with Cary, didn't split Charlotte in two, pretty easily better.

This map also has a entirely Wake based seat, doesn't split Greensboro, increases NC-01 black functionality and also opportunity in NC-06, and doesn't put as many rurals with suburbs they have little connection too.

I was thinking of the older maps re: Wake. I don't think race should be a deciding factor in determining maps. The new map splits Charlotte, splits Raleigh, draws Chapel Hill to rurals (which is way worse than any suburban-rural configuration, btw), and artificially gerrymanders to get Dems to 7 seats.

I agree this map isn’t the best on a granular level; I think NC-02 should be more rotated to be Raleigh based, however, none of the Dem seats are really artificial. A truly fair map would likely have a black belt seat, Raleigh seat, Durham/Chapel Hill seat, Greensboro seat, and Charlotte seat with a D leaning swing seat in Charlotte, a swing seat in Sandhills, and a swing seat of Raleigh burbs. My bigger issue with this map from a partisanship standpoint is the lack of competitive districts.

Furthermore, I really don’t get why Cary fits better with Durham/Chapel Hill than a suburban Raleigh seat? Burlington doesn’t seem like a terrible pairing and after that you don’t have much rurales attached.

Also, you personally may not think race should be a factor but right now VRA says it is, so too bad. Either way, wouldn’t rural/small city black communities be a clear COI?

1. NC-14 is artificial. Putting Gaston, Urban Charlotte, and the Charlotte suburbs together is completely artificial. Chapel Hill to rurals is artificial. It's the definition of unpacking. NC-13 is artificial. A fair suburban seat of Raleigh (that does not put the city itself into the suburban seat) is R leaning and more Johnston focused.

2. I live in Durham-Chapel Hill-Cary. Cary is highly integrated as part of the Triangle with both Chapel Hill/Durham and Raleigh. Burlington is its own thing.

3. If anything, this map hurts and reduces black representation because it repeatedly splits black communities lol. It reduces black representation even compared to the original map because it reduces the black % of the Wake only seat and the Charlotte seat

1. I feel like people are giving the Charlotte split too much greif just because most maps here proposed a more east/west divide of the metro. NC-14 really doesn't take much of the black population from NC-12, and very much feels akin to the NC-09 that existed from 1993 to 2017, just more compact, especially now that population actually warrants it. If I could, I would shed the Gaston Portion to Union County, but it essentially tries to take in White suburbs on both sides of the city. While the GOP's proposal of a Charlotte based district was compact, it made all the other district around it snakes connecting suburbs to rurals they have nothing to do with, essentially the same reason a "packed" Columbus or Pittsburg seat doesn't work well for the districts around it even if it looks clean.

I'm not going to argue with you on the latter 2 as you likely know more about the culture of the metro and how communities interact more than I do. The sense I get is that Cary is more related to Raleigh and Chapell hill/Durham are their own thing, and by putting them into the same district the communities would be constantly fighting each other for a voice. Furthermore, Chatham County seems like it could be a good fit to add to a Chapell Hill/Durham based district, though obv there will still be population left over.

2. See previous point. Either way can be both agree a fair map of the Tech Triangle produces 2 safe D seats and a swingy seat, probably somewhere between Trump + 6 and Biden + 2?

3. I agree the Wake split is bad, and NC-02 should become more Raleigh based which would increase BVAP. See point 1 for Charlotte.

Outside of NC-12, NC-01 is the 2nd most functional black seat so making it more likely to elect a black candidate of choice over the old map is a big win.



My "fix" map would be something roughly like this

Burlington is a bit weird to deal with

[ProgressiveModerate]

What I don't understand about their case is what if the governor and legislature just can't agree? Do we not get new maps? Or if so who says what the map is? The most logical answer should be the courts.

In a state like Michigan for instance, without the Michigan Commission, I don't think Whitmer and the state legislature would ever be able to agree on a map in any world and Whitmer would want a map that's fair from a direct partisanship standpoint while the legislature uses geography and VRA to pack Detroit, possibly creating only 4 Biden seats.

[ProgressiveModerate]

NC tends to be quite an awkward state to redistrict, especially just with the sizes of various COIs and Cities, they always seem just slightly too large or too small for a district. Here I tried to give a go at drawing the "ideal" NC map that really does it's best to follows COIs in a neat way.



https://davesredistricting.org/join/4fa3a1cb-6788-4c70-ab08-8082d7b3bc67

This is 2020 Pres numbers, though 9 goes to Ds in the 2016-2020 composite and 13 goes R.

Overall while it may be a bit rough around the edges, I feel like this map does a really good job at balancing several considerations of a good map, including COIs, compactness, county splitting, partisan fairness, and competitive districts.

In 2030, I'll be really curious to see who controls redistricting as well as whether NC gains an additional district or not. Regardless, Charlotte and Raliegh districts will likely be overpopulated and hence need to shrink making things a bit easier perhaps since Mecklenburg and Wake Counties would be closer to supporting 2 whole districts within them.

[ProgressiveModerate]

NC tends to be quite an awkward state to redistrict, especially just with the sizes of various COIs and Cities, they always seem just slightly too large or too small for a district. Here I tried to give a go at drawing the "ideal" NC map that really does it's best to follows COIs in a neat way.



https://davesredistricting.org/join/4fa3a1cb-6788-4c70-ab08-8082d7b3bc67

This is 2020 Pres numbers, though 9 goes to Ds in the 2016-2020 composite and 13 goes R.

Overall while it may be a bit rough around the edges, I feel like this map does a really good job at balancing several considerations of a good map, including COIs, compactness, county splitting, partisan fairness, and competitive districts.

In 2030, I'll be really curious to see who controls redistricting as well as whether NC gains an additional district or not. Regardless, Charlotte and Raliegh districts will likely be overpopulated and hence need to shrink making things a bit easier perhaps since Mecklenburg and Wake Counties would be closer to supporting 2 whole districts within them.

It would be better for the First to scoop in Goldsboro and Kinston (while avoiding most of their white environs) than to reach into whiter parts of the Albemarle as it does here.

I was considering that, but tbh it's not worth it for how little it increases the black population. Either that would mean 3 would have to have a very little arm into Johnson County or there would just have to be a weird config between 3 and 7 which would've be very coherent.

NC is a bit unfortunate in the way black voters are distributed. A true 50% black district is basically impossible to draw within any sort of reason, despite the state having 14 CDs and an over 20% black population.

Next decade, especially if NC doesn't gain  district, it's very possible District 1 will have depopulated enough to the point where it becomes a district where whites dominate the election outcomes. On the flip side though, it will probably be possible to make 12 or it's equivalent very close to 50% BVAP and it's obviously a safe D district in a GE.

[ProgressiveModerate]

NC tends to be quite an awkward state to redistrict, especially just with the sizes of various COIs and Cities, they always seem just slightly too large or too small for a district. Here I tried to give a go at drawing the "ideal" NC map that really does it's best to follows COIs in a neat way.



https://davesredistricting.org/join/4fa3a1cb-6788-4c70-ab08-8082d7b3bc67

This is 2020 Pres numbers, though 9 goes to Ds in the 2016-2020 composite and 13 goes R.

Overall while it may be a bit rough around the edges, I feel like this map does a really good job at balancing several considerations of a good map, including COIs, compactness, county splitting, partisan fairness, and competitive districts.

In 2030, I'll be really curious to see who controls redistricting as well as whether NC gains an additional district or not. Regardless, Charlotte and Raliegh districts will likely be overpopulated and hence need to shrink making things a bit easier perhaps since Mecklenburg and Wake Counties would be closer to supporting 2 whole districts within them.

It would be better for the First to scoop in Goldsboro and Kinston (while avoiding most of their white environs) than to reach into whiter parts of the Albemarle as it does here.

I was considering that, but tbh it's not worth it for how little it increases the black population. Either that would mean 3 would have to have a very little arm into Johnson County or there would just have to be a weird config between 3 and 7 which would've be very coherent.

NC is a bit unfortunate in the way black voters are distributed. A true 50% black district is basically impossible to draw within any sort of reason, despite the state having 14 CDs and an over 20% black population.

Next decade, especially if NC doesn't gain  district, it's very possible District 1 will have depopulated enough to the point where it becomes a district where whites dominate the election outcomes. On the flip side though, it will probably be possible to make 12 or it's equivalent very close to 50% BVAP and it's obviously a safe D district in a GE.

Another under utilized minority district is actually in the 6th. Greensboro/Winston Salem have enough minority populations to make it a majority minority seat

In this map I actually tried to make the black population in 6 as high as possible within reason.

[ProgressiveModerate]

NC tends to be quite an awkward state to redistrict, especially just with the sizes of various COIs and Cities, they always seem just slightly too large or too small for a district. Here I tried to give a go at drawing the "ideal" NC map that really does it's best to follows COIs in a neat way.



https://davesredistricting.org/join/4fa3a1cb-6788-4c70-ab08-8082d7b3bc67

This is 2020 Pres numbers, though 9 goes to Ds in the 2016-2020 composite and 13 goes R.

Overall while it may be a bit rough around the edges, I feel like this map does a really good job at balancing several considerations of a good map, including COIs, compactness, county splitting, partisan fairness, and competitive districts.

In 2030, I'll be really curious to see who controls redistricting as well as whether NC gains an additional district or not. Regardless, Charlotte and Raliegh districts will likely be overpopulated and hence need to shrink making things a bit easier perhaps since Mecklenburg and Wake Counties would be closer to supporting 2 whole districts within them.

It's always possible to nitpick NC maps a lot, simply because, as you articulated, NC population distribution is pretty awkward and you always have to screw communities over.

That said, I don't think there's good justification for putting anything in Cabarrus County in the 12th district.

You can also realign 1, 3, and 7 to make Discovolante's suggestion easier--basically put Johnston in 7, then some more of Onslow in 3, and then you can easily trade between 1 and 3 to make 1 more Black.

FWIW, as someone from Watauga County, it's really not necessary to put it in with Asheville. Boone and Asheville are both in the same region of the state, and are pretty culturally similar, but doing a district linking Asheville and Boone isn't necessary imo when this is possible and is better CoI:



(Not that your district is bad CoI, but Boone is fine in a seat with Hickory or Winston)

Yeah I often default to that nice whole County district 2 for district 11, the main reason I didn't here was because I tend to find Buncombe and Watauga culturally similar; Rutherford County specifically for whatever reasons feels like a bit of the odd one out in NC-11.

Imma try and do an update map with these suggestions and see how it goes.

Also Ngl but this config of NC-11 helped with partisan balance of the overall map in this case.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Since were throwing our maps around here's a rough idea of my ideal map for NC


https://davesredistricting.org/join/a5c39e3c-30de-414d-8121-1d942f631697

It creates three highly competitive districts (two R+2 and one R+1), as well as four majority minority seats.

The 6th, 1st, 10th, and 12th are all majority minority, with the largest minority in all being black, and the 10th and 12th having large native and hispanic populations (respectively). It's not the prettiest map, but for keeping COI's together as well as being extremely perportional and having great minority representativion I think it does well.

Def not the prettiest map[ but I agree decent in terms of COI. My main gripe would be NC-02; why not keep it entirely within Wake, especially given how fast the suburbs fade to rurals once you leave Wake.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Updated map

[ProgressiveModerate]

I gotta say, some of these maps have kind of an odd approach to Charlotte. If you're trying to draw for community of interest, imo you really should draw a district that's very decisively central Charlotte and then two clearly suburban districts. The obvious place to remove people from Mecklenburg is the Northern portion (which is more similar to the wealthy communities in southern Iredell and Eastern Lincoln/Catawba), Mint Hill/Matthews, and South Charlotte, in that order.  Unlike the eastern part of the state, it's possible to draw greater Charlotte in a pretty good way because population lays out well for it.

Putting places like Concord in with downtown Charlotte, or drawing an odd suburban donut, doesn't make sense. Just because the current map does it doesn't mean it's ok!

IMO this is my preferred configuration of metro Charlotte--not in the specific lines, but the general plan of one central district (12), one eastern suburban district with southern Meck burbs (9) and one western district with Gastonia and the rich communities along Lake Norman (10). But if you're squeamish about splitting Mecklenburg three times you can do something decent which is similarly structured.

I was initially trying to do this sort of config as well but I struggled to fit it into the overall map.

[ProgressiveModerate]

The issue is trying to draw that in with other districts. The 10th (Fayetteville/Lumberton) really should be made competitive and majority minority. Without drawing into Union this becomes exceeding difficult. I’d rather draw one of the Charlotte seats suboptimally to allow for this

What about something like this?

Overall I think this map is pretty decent. My gripes are mostly tiny things that could relatively easily be resolved such as NC-01 taking in a random little piece of Wake and possibly some cleaning up with NC-06.

The only big gripe with this map is it feels very urban-centric, as in you drew the urban seats first like NC-06 and NC-12 and then tried to draw other seats around it. Districts 3 and 13 feel a bit like leftovers.

My second gripe would be the partisan imbalance. While I tend to not be one for forcing partisan fair maps when geogrpahy doesn't allow, NC allows for a relatively fair partisan breakdown while still abiding by good redistricting principles, this seems to make several R favorable decisions.

My guess from partisanship would be:

4 Safe D: 2, 4, 6, and 12

1 Lean D: 1

1 Tossup: 8

1 Lean R: 13

3 Likely R: 9, 11, 14

4 Safe R: 3, 5, 7, 10

Again not a huge imbalance but def more R favorable.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Updated again; pretty minor changes but tried to clean up a bit.

Does anyone else hate how large the precincts are in Harnett and Johnston Counties? Anyone know why that is?

[ProgressiveModerate]

I did it that way because I was trying to preserve a NC-08 which would follow LeeCannon's guidelines, probably not my personal ideal.

Ultimately the eastern half of North Carolina has 7 obvious districts (Northeast, Central Coast/Inland cities, Wilmington area, Fayetteville/Sandhills, suburban Raleigh, Raleigh, and Durham+Chapel Hill) but only enough population for 6 districts.

I decide to nuke the suburban Raleigh seat since that's the easiest, but that meant there was a ton of excess population in Wake county which had to gobble up rural areas to the SW (plus of course Johnston in NC-03).

Ultimately on any mao you have to decide which of these seven communities you will destroy. Tbh I think the one that has the cleanest results is putting Durham in NC-01, but as a single district it's worse than the others.

Ye I think that's a really good way of summarizing the problem. In my map, I sorta pushed 3, 7, and 9 slightly more west than would be ideal but sorta try to keep all 7 communities.

The 2 other main problems in NC are how to deal with Charlotte and Winston-Salem and Greensboro

With Charlotte, 2 districts is slightly 2 small but 3 districts is slightly too much, and Winston-Salem and Greensboro are starting to outgrow NC-06 but neither are really enough to sustain a district individually and plus by separating the 2 cities one could argue you're diluting the black population. The court map tries to have it both ways by shedding most of Winston Salem while taking in a few of the blackest precicnts, but then also takes in Rockingham and Caswell counties for some reason (which tbf are a bit homeless because they tend to be a bit cornered by Greensboro)

My hope is by 2030 a lot of this weirdness in population balance can be resolved.

If NC does not gain a district, then you could probably just do something simillar to one of our maps but since NC-01 and NC-03 will be extremely underpopulated, there is a case for sort of merging with NC-03. Then you can have 2 very clear Raliegh districts and 3 very clear Charlotte districts and NC-06 will probably still barely be able to work in the both Greensboro and Winston Salem Config

If NC gains a 15th district, then you'll be able to represent all 7 communities int the eastern part of the state far more clearly, finally give Charlotte a 3rd dedicated seat, as well as split Greensboro and Salem into separate districts (since in this scneario NC-06 would be very overpopulated).

[ProgressiveModerate]

I did it that way because I was trying to preserve a NC-08 which would follow LeeCannon's guidelines, probably not my personal ideal.

Ultimately the eastern half of North Carolina has 7 obvious districts (Northeast, Central Coast/Inland cities, Wilmington area, Fayetteville/Sandhills, suburban Raleigh, Raleigh, and Durham+Chapel Hill) but only enough population for 6 districts.

I decide to nuke the suburban Raleigh seat since that's the easiest, but that meant there was a ton of excess population in Wake county which had to gobble up rural areas to the SW (plus of course Johnston in NC-03).

Ultimately on any mao you have to decide which of these seven communities you will destroy. Tbh I think the one that has the cleanest results is putting Durham in NC-01, but as a single district it's worse than the others.

Ye I think that's a really good way of summarizing the problem. In my map, I sorta pushed 3, 7, and 9 slightly more west than would be ideal but sorta try to keep all 7 communities.

The 2 other main problems in NC are how to deal with Charlotte and Winston-Salem and Greensboro

With Charlotte, 2 districts is slightly 2 small but 3 districts is slightly too much, and Winston-Salem and Greensboro are starting to outgrow NC-06 but neither are really enough to sustain a district individually and plus by separating the 2 cities one could argue you're diluting the black population. The court map tries to have it both ways by shedding most of Winston Salem while taking in a few of the blackest precicnts, but then also takes in Rockingham and Caswell counties for some reason (which tbf are a bit homeless because they tend to be a bit cornered by Greensboro)

My hope is by 2030 a lot of this weirdness in population balance can be resolved.

If NC does not gain a district, then you could probably just do something simillar to one of our maps but since NC-01 and NC-03 will be extremely underpopulated, there is a case for sort of merging with NC-03. Then you can have 2 very clear Raliegh districts and 3 very clear Charlotte districts and NC-06 will probably still barely be able to work in the both Greensboro and Winston Salem Config

If NC gains a 15th district, then you'll be able to represent all 7 communities int the eastern part of the state far more clearly, finally give Charlotte a 3rd dedicated seat, as well as split Greensboro and Salem into separate districts (since in this scneario NC-06 would be very overpopulated).

Idk, Charlotte and the Triad are pretty easy IMO. Something like the configuration I posted upthread really isn't hard in Charlotte, and then you can lop off the exurban portions of Guilford and Forsyth in the Triad.

Btw, why do you keep putting parts of Cabarrus in with Charlotte?

Good question. On my map I was also aiming for general compactness, and I didn't want to do that "C" chaped suburban district people sometimes do that takes in parts of Union, Cabarrus, and whiter parts of Mecklenburg. Cabarrus actually has a notable and growing black population, so combinging northern Mecklenburg with Cabarrus helps to boost the BVAP for 12. 14 basically takes in the whitest Charlotte suburbs, and then 10 takes in Charlotte "exurbs" or whatever you want to call them.