This U.S. house district was once a political battleground. A new map changed that.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — In 2022, Democrat Wiley Nickel ran as a moderate and narrowly won North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District by about 9,000 votes. Two years later, the current congressman, Republican Brad Knott, ran as a conservative and coasted into the U.S. House by more than 70,000 votes. Voters didn’t change their minds. Politicians changed their voters. North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew its congressional map to transform what was one of the last remaining swing districts in the South to a safe GOP seat. Lawmakers split the rectangular district into an…