By Joseph Ax

North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature on Wednesday approved a new congressional map that should allow the party to flip at least three Democratic seats in the 2024 election, a major boost to Republican chances of maintaining their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The vote by state lawmakers is not subject under North Carolina law to a veto from Governor Roy Cooper, who has joined his fellow Democrats in decrying the new map as a partisan power grab.

The House of Representatives passed the new map along party lines on Wednesday afternoon, after the Senate did the same on Tuesday.

The latest map creates 10 safely Republican districts, three Democratic districts and one highly competitive seat, centered in the eastern part of the state.

Democrats would have to flip five seats in the 435-seat U.S. House next year to regain control of that chamber.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Deepa Babington)