North Carolina's 12th congressional district is a congressional district located mostly in Charlotte as well as surrounding areas in Mecklenburg County represented by Democrat Alma Adams. Prior to the 2016 elections, it was a gerrymandered district located in central North Carolina that comprised portions of Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Lexington, Salisbury, Concord, and High Point. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+24, it is the most Democratic district in North Carolina, and it has never been represented by a Republican.
It was one of two minority-majority Congressional districts created in the state in the 1990s. Between 2003 and 2013, there was a small plurality of white Americans in the district according to the 2000 United States census, although African Americans made up a comparable proportion of the voting population. As redrawn for the 2012 elections and under the lines used prior to the 2016 elections, the district had an African-American majority according to the 2010 United States census.
North Carolina had a twelfth seat in the House in the early nineteenth century (1803–1843) and in the mid-twentieth century (1943–1963). Most of the territory in the district's second incarnation is now in the 11th district.
History The district was re-established after the 1990 United States census, when North Carolina gained a House seat due to an increase in population. It was drawn in 1992 as one of two minority-majority districts, designed to give African-American voters (who comprised 22% of the state's population at the time) the chance to elect a representative of their choice; Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibited the dilution of voting power of minorities by distributing them among districts so that they could never elect candidates of their choice.senate.leg.state.mn.us "North Carolina Redistricting Cases: the 1990s" , National Conference of State Legislatures
In its original configuration, the district had a 64 percent African-American majority in population. The district boundaries, stretching from Gastonia to Durham, were so narrow at some points that it was no wider than a highway lane. It followed Interstate 85 almost exactly. One state legislator famously remarked, after seeing the district map, "if you drove down the interstate with both car doors open, you'd kill most of the people in the district."
The United States Supreme Court ruled in Shaw v. Reno (1993) that a racial gerrymander may, in some circumstances, violate the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.
The state legislature defended the two minority-majority districts as based on demographics, with the 12th representing people of the interior Piedmont area and the 1st the Coastal Plain. Subsequently, the 12th district was redrawn several times and was adjudicated in the Supreme Court on two additional occasions. The version created after the 2000 census was approved by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hunt v. Cromartie. The district's configuration dating from the 2000 census had a small plurality of whites, and it was changed only slightly after the 2010 census. African Americans make up a large majority of registered voters and Hispanics constitute 7.1% of residents.
On February 5, 2016, U.S. Circuit Judge Roger L. Gregory ruled that the district, along with North Carolina's 1st congressional district, must be redrawn from its post-2010 configuration, and that race could not be a mitigating factor in drawing the district. This decision, in the case of Cooper v. Harris, was subsequently upheld 5−3 by the U.S. Supreme Court in an opinion by Justice Elena Kagan on May 22, 2017. In the opinion, Justice Kagan noted that this marked the fifth time the 12th district had appeared before the Supreme Court, following Shaw v. Reno and Hunt v. Cromartie which had both been heard twice before the Court.
In all of its configurations, it has been a Democratic stronghold. Its previous incarnation was dominated by black voters in Charlotte, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem. The redrawn map made the 12th a compact district comprising nearly all of Mecklenburg County, except the southeast quadrant. Due to Charlotte's heavy swing to the Democrats in recent years, the reconfigured 12th is no less Democratic than its predecessor.
On February 23, 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court had approved a new map only used for the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections which had changed the 12th district boundaries to include the northern half of Mecklenburg County, including most of Uptown, along with eastern Cabarrus County.
On October 25, 2023, the North Carolina General Assembly redrew and approved a new congressional map for the 2024 election, and shifting the district to only Mecklenburg county.
Counties and communities For the 119th and successive Congresses (based on the districts drawn following a 2023 legislative session), the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities.https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd119/cd_based/ST37/CD119_NC12.pdf
Mecklenburg County (4)
Charlotte (part; also 8th and 14th), Matthews (part; also 8th), Mint Hill (part; also 8th), Pineville (part; also 14th)
Recent election results from statewide races Year Office Results2008 PresidentObama 70% - 29% SenateHagan 69% - 28% GovernorPerdue 58% - 40%2010 SenateMarshall 62% - 36%2012 PresidentObama 71% - 29% GovernorDalton 58% - 40%2014 SenateHagan 69% - 28%2016 PresidentClinton 71% - 25% SenateRoss 68% - 29% GovernorCooper 71% - 27% Lt. GovernorColeman 67% - 29% Secretary of StateMarshall 73% - 27% AuditorWood 71% - 29% TreasurerBlue III 68% - 32% Attorney GeneralStein 72% - 28%2020 PresidentBiden 74% - 24% SenateCunningham 70% - 26% GovernorCooper 75% - 23% Lt. GovernorLewis Holley 73% - 27% Secretary of StateMarshall 75% - 25% AuditorWood 74% - 26% TreasurerChatterji 70% - 30% Attorney GeneralStein 74% - 26%2022 SenateBeasley 73% - 25%2024 PresidentHarris 72% - 26% GovernorStein 77% - 18% Lt. GovernorHunt 73% - 24% Secretary of StateMarshall 74% - 26% AuditorHolmes 71% - 25% TreasurerHarris 71% - 29% Attorney GeneralJackson 76% - 24%
List of members representing the district Member Party Years Congress Electoral history District location District established March 4, 1803 Joseph Winston Democratic-Republican March 4, 1803 –March 3, 1807 Elected in 1803.Re-elected in 1804.Retired. 1803–1813 Meshack Franklin Democratic-Republican March 4, 1807 –March 3, 1813 Elected in 1806.Re-elected in 1808.Re-elected in 1810.Redistricted to the . 1813–1823 Israel Pickens Democratic-Republican March 4, 1813 –March 3, 1817 Redistricted from the and re-elected in 1813.Re-elected in 1815.Retired. Felix Walker Democratic-Republican March 4, 1817 –March 3, 1823 Elected in 1817.Re-elected in 1819.Re-elected in 1821.Lost re-election. Robert B. Vance Democratic-Republican March 4, 1823 –March 3, 1825 Elected in 1823.Lost re-election. 1823–1833 Samuel P. Carson Jacksonian March 4, 1825 –March 3, 1833 Elected in 1825.Re-elected in 1827.Re-elected in 1829.Re-elected in 1831. James Graham Anti-Jacksonian March 4, 1833 –March 29, 1836 Elected in 1833.Re-elected in 1835.Seat declared vacant. 1833–1843 Vacant March 29, 1836 –December 5, 1836 James Graham Anti-Jacksonian December 5, 1836 –March 3, 1837 Elected in 1836 to finish his term.Also elected in 1837 to the next term.Re-elected in 1839.Re-elected in 1841.Redistricted to the and lost re-election. Whig March 4, 1837 –March 3, 1843 District dissolved March 4, 1843 District re-established January 3, 1943 Zebulon Weaver Democratic January 3, 1943 –January 3, 1947 Redistricted from the and re-elected in 1942.Re-elected in 1944.Lost renomination. Monroe M. Redden Democratic January 3, 1947 –January 3, 1953 Elected in 1946.Re-elected in 1948. Re-elected in 1950.Retired. George A. Shuford Democratic January 3, 1953 –January 3, 1959 Elected in 1952.Re-elected in 1954.Re-elected in 1956.Renominated but later withdrew because of ill health. David M. Hall Democratic January 3, 1959 –January 29, 1960 Elected in 1958.Died. Vacant January 29, 1960 –June 25, 1960 Roy A. Taylor Democratic June 25, 1960 –January 3, 1963 Elected to finish Hall's term.Re-elected in 1960.Redistricted to the . District dissolved January 3, 1963 District re-established January 3, 1993 Mel Watt Democratic January 3, 1993 –January 6, 2014 Elected in 1992.Re-elected in 1994.Re-elected in 1996.Re-elected in 1998.Re-elected in 2000.Re-elected in 2002.Re-elected in 2004.Re-elected in 2006.Re-elected in 2008.Re-elected in 2010.Re-elected in 2012.Resigned to become director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.1993–20032003–2013 2013–2017 Vacant January 6, 2014 –November 4, 2014 Alma Adams Democratic November 4, 2014 –present Elected to finish Watt's term.Elected to full term in 2014.Re-elected in 2016.Re-elected in 2018.Re-elected in 2020.Re-elected in 2022.Re-elected in 2024.2017–20212021–2023 2023–2025 2025–present
Past election results 2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014 special election
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
See also
List of United States congressional districts North Carolina's congressional districts
Notes
References
Works cited
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present