Can somebody with a better understanding of North Carolina than myself tell how much the statewide candidates would need to win by to flip the legislature?
North Carolina is gerrymandered to hell, so the best we can hope for is to block the GOP from getting a veto proof majority in at least one chamber. The GOP would need 7 seats in the NC House and 1 seat in the NC Senate I believe. Unfortunately, I believe that redistricting in NC is controlled by the legislature(Gov. cannot veto maps), so until we pack the federal courts and overturn the Common Cause decision, not much will change.
If Democrats keep control of the NCSC they'll have some voice in the process.
They are guaranteed to keep control for 2 more years. It's currently 6D/1R, but the R is in 1 of the 3 seats up this year, so even in the best case for the NC GOP, the court would be 4D/3R until the end of 2022.