Summary
- North Carolina’s state legislature is reasonably diverse – but only among one party
- Democrats are majority non-white and majority-female, while Republicans are almost entirely white men
- Partisan gerrymandering again distorts representation of the people
North Carolina’s state constitution declares that “all political power is vested in and derived from the people.” This foundational principle suggests our legislature should broadly reflect our state’s population. At first glance, the overall demographics of the North Carolina General Assembly might seem to roughly align with North Carolina’s population in some ways: in the 2025-2026 biennium, 75% of lawmakers are white, 25% are non-white, while our state as a whole is 62% white, 21% Black, 10% Hispanic, and 3% Asian, according to the 2020 Census. Roughly 51% of North Carolinians are female, which contrasts starkly with the legislature’s 70% male, 30% female breakdown.
But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find even starker differences that reveals a much more complicated story about representation in our state’s legislature and how well our “people’s house” actually represents all North Carolinians. Contrary to popular belief, there is a great deal of diversity in our state legislature – is just exists almost completely on one side of the aisle.
One Legislature, Two Very Different Parties
The key dividing line in understanding our legislature’s demographic differences is by political party.

- The Republican House and Senate caucuses, which hold majorities in both chambers, are overwhelmingly homogeneous: 98% of Republican legislators are white, and 87% are men. In fact, 85% of all Republican legislators are white men.
- The Democratic caucuses paint a very different picture. Among all Democratic lawmakers, 59% are people of color, and women make up a majority (55%) of their ranks. This makes the Democratic caucuses both majority-minority and majority-female.
A look at legislative districts with large non-white populations bears out this pattern very clearly. Of the 32 House districts where non-white voters make up 49% or more of all voters, Republicans hold just one: House District 25 in Nash County (one of the very few competitive seats in the entire legislature). In the Senate, of the 16 districts where non-white voters make up 45% or more of the population, Republicans represent only two: Senate Districts 11 and 24.
These numbers reveal a legislature where diversity exists almost entirely on one side of the aisle.
Understanding the Divide
The main reason for this stark demographic divide is partisan gerrymandering.
Because non-white voters tend to support Democrats by significant margins, Republican map-drawers have typically drawn districts with large non-white populations in one of two ways: They either “pack” these voters into a small number of districts, creating a few heavily Democratic-leaning seats while minimizing their influence elsewhere; or “crack” the communities apart, spreading their voters across multiple districts to dilute their electoral power. One particularly egregious example came in 2020, when Republican lawmakers famously “cracked” the campus of NC A&T, the nation’s largest HBCU, into two different Congressional districts, diluting students’ voting power.
The big gender disparity between the parties likely stems from differing views on gender equality. While the Democrats’ traditional emphasis on issues like reproductive freedom, equal pay, family leave and more open embrace of women’s choices tends to appeal to more female voters, mainstream Republican positions on these issues have long skewed more towards traditional ideas about women and gender roles. This not only affects which candidates each gender tends to vote for, but also which candidates they are able to recruit. Generally, the Democrats have had many more women step up to run for office than Republicans have.
The People’s House
A legislature that’s meant to derive its power from the people should reflect the diversity of those people. While North Carolina’s current General Assembly might appear somewhat representative when viewed as a whole, the reality is that this diversity exists almost entirely within one party. This raises important questions about representation and democracy in our state.
True representation isn’t just about raw numbers – it’s about having voices from all communities represented when decisions are made that affect everyone. When one party’s ranks look dramatically different from the state it helps govern, it suggests a disconnect between the promise of representative democracy and its practice. While racial and gender demographics are plainly not determinative of a person’s politics, they are a significant factor in that person’s lived experience, worldview and sense for how the world really works. Healthy political parties should be able to speak to people from all walks of life, while unhealthy ones refuse to.
As North Carolina continues to grow, it is becoming more diverse with each passing year. Due to partisan gerrymandering, the demographic disparity in our legislature is likely to grow along with it. Like many problems of representation, the question is how to repair our electoral machinery to represent North Carolinians themselves once again, rather than just the voters some lawmakers prefer to prioritize above others.