North Carolina's 12th congressional district

North Carolina's 12th congressional district
From 2023 to 2025 From 2025 Interactive map of district boundaries
Representative	Alma Adams D–Charlotte
Population (2023)	772,165[1]
Median household income	$78,809[1]
Ethnicity	40.6% White 33.8% Black 15.4% Hispanic 5.6% Asian 3.7% Two or more races 0.9% other
Cook PVI	D+13[2]

North Carolina's 12th congressional district is a congressional district located in the northern and eastern portions of Charlotte as well as surrounding areas in Mecklenburg County and Cabarrus 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.^[3]

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. The 12th district is the most Democratic district in North Carolina, and it has never been represented by a Republican.

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.

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.^[4]

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.^[5][6] 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."^[7][8]

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.^[4] Subsequently, the 12th district was redrawn several times and was adjudicated in the Supreme Court on two additional occasions.^[4] 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,^[9] must be redrawn from its post-2010 configuration,^[10] and that race could not be a mitigating factor in drawing the district.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]

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 approved a new map which changed the 12th district boundaries to include the northern half of Mecklenburg County, including most of Uptown, along with eastern Cabarrus County.^[14]

Member (Residence)	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history	District location
District established March 4, 1803
Joseph Winston (Surry County)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1807	8th 9th	Elected in 1803. Re-elected in 1804. Retired.	1803–1813 "North Carolina congressional district map (1803–13)".[15]
Meshack Franklin (Scullcamp)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1807 – March 3, 1813	10th 11th 12th	Elected in 1806. Re-elected in 1808. Re-elected in 1810. Redistricted to the 13th district.
					1813–1823 "North Carolina congressional district map (1813–43)".[15]
Israel Pickens (Morgantown)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1817	13th 14th	Redistricted from the 11th district and re-elected in 1813. Re-elected in 1815. Retired.
Felix Walker (Waynesville)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1823	15th 16th 17th	Elected in 1817. Re-elected in 1819. Re-elected in 1821. Lost re-election.
Robert B. Vance (Nashville)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	18th	Elected in 1823. Lost re-election.	1823–1833 "North Carolina congressional district map (1813–43)".[15]
Samuel P. Carson (Pleasant Garden)	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1833	19th 20th 21st 22nd	Elected in 1825. Re-elected in 1827. Re-elected in 1829. Re-elected in 1831. [data missing]
James Graham (Rutherfordton)	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1833 – March 29, 1836	23rd 24th	Elected in 1833. Re-elected in 1835. Seat declared vacant.	1833–1843 "North Carolina congressional district map (1813–43)".[15]
Vacant		March 29, 1836 – December 5, 1836	24th
James Graham (Rutherfordton)	Anti-Jacksonian	December 5, 1836 – March 3, 1837	24th 25th 26th 27th	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 1st congressional district and lost re-election.
	Whig	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843
District dissolved March 4, 1843
District re-established January 3, 1943
Zebulon Weaver (Asheville)	Democratic	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1947	78th 79th	Redistricted from the 11th congressional district and re-elected in 1942. Re-elected in 1944. Lost renomination.
Monroe M. Redden (Hendersonville)	Democratic	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1953	80th 81st 82nd	Elected in 1946. Re-elected in 1948. Retired.
George A. Shuford (Asheville)	Democratic	January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1959	83rd 84th 85th	Elected in 1952. Re-elected in 1954. Re-elected in 1956. Renominated but later withdrew because of ill health.
David M. Hall (Sylva)	Democratic	January 3, 1959 – January 29, 1960	86th	Elected in 1958. Died.
Vacant		January 29, 1960 – June 25, 1960
Roy A. Taylor (Black Mountain)	Democratic	June 25, 1960 – January 3, 1963	86th 87th	Elected to finish Hall's term. Re-elected in 1960. Redistricted to the 11th district.
District dissolved January 3, 1963
District re-established January 3, 1993
Mel Watt (Charlotte)	Democratic	January 3, 1993 – January 6, 2014	103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th 112th 113th	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.	1993–2003 [data missing]
					2003–2013
					2013–2017
Vacant		January 6, 2014 – November 4, 2014	113th
Alma Adams (Charlotte)	Democratic	November 4, 2014 – present	113th 114th 115th 116th 117th 118th	Elected to finish Watt's term. Also elected in 2014 to the next term. Re-elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020. Re-elected in 2022.
					2017–2021
					2021–2023
					2023–2025

• List of United States congressional districts
• North Carolina's congressional districts

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

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