Population is a key factor.
The great hypocrisy is the NC demonkkraps controlled the state for more than 100 years after reconstruction. They gerrymandered the state, and changed election laws always to favor their party. For example, in 1972 when Nixon was going to crush McGovern, the demonkkraps feared what this would do down ballot - which was a full slate from gubnar all the way down to water board. They changed the law that allowed a person to check just one box at top to allow straight party vote. Also, the demonkkrap candidate name was always first listed on the ballot.... studies reportedly show that a (stupid, uninformed) undecided (demonkkrap) voter will more often than not pick the first name they see. Then there is the gerrymandering .... had a case in 1990s where district stretched more than 50 miles down the I-85 corridor.... voters with different interests ... just to ensure demonkkrap seat.
"The Court held that although North Carolina's reapportionment plan was racially neutral on its face, the resulting district shape was bizarre enough to suggest that it constituted an effort to separate voters into different districts based on race."The districting was outrageous and blatent. O'Connor's opinion included a classic passage:
One state legislator has remarked that " `[i]f you drove down the interstate with both car doors open, you'd kill most of the people in the district.' " Washington Post, Apr. 20, 1993, p. A4. The district even has inspired poetry: "Ask not for whom the line is drawn; it is drawn to avoid thee." Grofman, Would Vince Lombardi Have Been Right If He Had Said: "When It Comes to Redistricting, Race Isn't Everything, It's the Only Thing"?, 14 Cardozo L. Rev. 1237, 1261, n. 96 (1993)