Gerrymandering

Across the state, Republican candidates for Congress won 50.3 percent of the vote and Democrats won 48.4 percent of the vote, according to a News & Observer analysis of vote totals. Democrats did not have a candidate in Eastern North Carolina’s 3rd district, won by Republican incumbent Rep. Walter Jones.

To restate:
Dems only ran in 12 of NC's 13 Congressional districts.
They still got 48.4% of the total votes.
And they only won 3 seats.