In 2024, North Carolina Republicans tried and failed to steal a state Supreme Court election. Undeterred and apparently unashamed, they now seem intent on trying to steal more elections using the same old playbook: rig the maps, pack the courts, and consolidate power.

Rather than fix real problems — like woefully underfunded schools, a mounting affordability crisis, and spiraling healthcare costs — Republican leaders in North Carolina are doubling down on expanding their power and (further) rigging the maps to pick and choose their voters.

The State Supreme Court should be acting as a check on this egregious power grab. But instead, conservative Justices, led by Chief Justice Paul Newby, appear to be wielding their gavels to rubber-stamp this abuse of power.

It wasn’t always this way. Look no further than 2020, when Democratic justices held a majority on the state Supreme Court and were focused on upholding the rights of North Carolinians — not pandering to power-hungry politicians. In an all too familiar story, Republican legislators at the time were hellbent on pushing through one of the “most extreme gerrymanders” in the country. When the maps came before the State Supreme Court, they ruled that the brazen attempt to pick and choose their voters violated the North Carolina constitution. The court-ordered map that followed was recognized as one of the “fairest the Tar Heel State has seen in decades.”

But as Republicans have picked up seats and secured a conservative majority on the NC Supreme Court, fair maps have become a distant memory — and an opportunity for one family in particular to expand its political dynasty. Meet The Bergers.