Congressional primaries could be in June

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — The Latest on efforts to redraw North Carolina’s congressional districts:

7:45 p.m.

A new North Carolina election schedule approved by the state House would delay congressional elections by almost three months should races have to go forward under district boundaries proposed this week.

The House voted 71-32 on Thursday night to shift the March 15 congressional primary to June 7. The shift is contingent on the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to block a lower court decision that prevents elections under current district lines. A new filing period under altered maps would begin March 16.

The measure heading to the Senate also would eliminate runoffs for all 2016 primaries on both dates. Right now a leading primary candidate must get more than 40 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.

The House rejected a Democratic amendment shifting all primaries to June 21.

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6:55 p.m.

Republicans want to push back the North Carolina congressional primaries to June 7 should the U.S. Supreme Court fail to halt a lower court order preventing U.S. House elections under the current boundaries.

A state House committee Thursday evening agreed to legislation rescheduling the congressional primary, which was supposed to take place March 15 with other elections.

The proposal also does away with all primary runoffs in 2016. That means the person getting the most votes in any primary race will be declared the winner. Usually a leading candidate must receive more than 40 percent of the vote to win outright.

The measure was expected to be heard by the full House on Thursday night. It would still have to get Senate approval.

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4:45 p.m.

The North Carolina Senate has passed a new map of congressional districts after a lengthy debate.

The vote sends the bill containing the new map to the House. It’s not clear when the House will vote.

A number of Democrats complained during floor debate that maintaining an advantage for the GOP in the congressional delegation factored too heavily in the redistricting process. Republican Senate leader Phil Berger said the new map was drawn to harmonize a number of criteria without favoring partisan advantage or other factors above others.

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The map unveiled in Raleigh this afternoon puts much of the region into the 7th District, including northern New Hanover County and Pender County, which were moved to the 3rd District before the 2012 election. Bladen County, though, would be split between the 7th and 9th districts.

Johnston County, at the north end of the 7th District would also be split, with its northern half moving to the 2nd District. Both incumbent Rep. David Rouzer and his challenger in the Republican primary are from Johnston County.

Legislative leaders have held hearing and meetings this week to come up with new maps after a federal court recently ruled two of the state’s Congressional districts unconstitutional. State leaders have asked the Supreme Court to issue a stay on the ruling allowing the existing maps to be used this year, but Chief Justice John Roberts has yet to rule.

This afternoon Gov. Pat McCrory called for the General Assembly to convene to draw new maps by Friday.

“I am extremely disappointed by the recent ruling but still hope that Chief Justice Roberts will issue a stay that is in the best interest of the people of North Carolina,” McCrory said in a statement. “I am concerned that in the absence of a stay, the voting for congressional representatives could be disrupted.”