North Carolina's 11th congressional district


North Carolina's 11th congressional district encompasses most of Western North Carolina. Starting in the 113th Congress, it was last represented by Mark Meadows, a Republican. He replaced Democrat Heath Shuler, who retired in 2013. Shuler had won the seat in the 2006 midterm elections, defeating 8-term Republican Representative Charles H. Taylor. After a court-supervised 2019 redistricting, Meadows announced in December that he will not run for re-election in 2020, and on March 30 he resigned to become White House Chief of Staff.

Redistricting

Until 2011, the 11th district had volatile politics and was one of the most competitive congressional districts in North Carolina. It was historically anchored by Asheville, which is heavily Democratic. However, many of the city's suburbs are among the most conservative areas of North Carolina. The rest of the district was split between Democratic-leaning counties in the south and Republican-leaning counties in the north. Consequently, congressional races in this district were historically very close and hard-fought.
In 2011 the Republican-controlled legislature redrew the district, shifting most of Asheville to the 10th district where its Democratic tilt is heavily diluted by the overwhelming Republican inclination of the rest of the district. The new map split Asheville in such a way that in some neighborhoods, one side of the street moved to the 10th while the other side of the street stayed in the 11th.
To make up for the loss in population, the 11th absorbed some strongly Republican territory in the Foothills which had previously been in the 10th. On paper, it was one of the strongest Republican districts in the South. Due to the district becoming much more conservative than its previous iteration, Shuler decided not to run for reelection.
In November 2019, new congressional districts were drawn for the state. After review by North Carolina judges in December, a new was mandated to be used for the 2020 elections, which includes the western part of Rutherford county and all of these counties: Avery, Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Swain, Transylvania, and Yancey.

List of members representing the district