With one week left in term, Republican NC governor begs Supreme Court with 'hail mary' to stop special election

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has mere days left after being beaten by a Democratic challenger, but he's still trying to restrict the Democrat's power.

McCrory is making one more power grab before his term is up Jan. 7. The controversial governor is begging the U.S. Supreme Court, in an emergency request, to stop the upcoming 2017 special elections, The Washington Post reported.

that 28 state House and Senate districts were racially gerrymandered. The court further decided that it was too late to redraw electoral maps for the 2016 election and ordered a special election with the new districts take place in 2017.

If the new election moves forward in 2017 with districts redrawn, Democrats are expected to pick up seats in a state where the GOP dominates the state legislature. The current GOP majority is so large that any law the incoming Democratic governor vetoes can be overridden.

If the Supreme Court decides to stay the request, the election may not occur until the 2018 midterm elections. The election is currently scheduled for October. The Court once before refused to stay the federal court ruling in February.

Friday, a state judge blocked McCrory and the Republican legislature's attempts to restrict the role of the office of the governor. Wake County Superior Court Judge Don Stephens ruled that the actions were a risk to free and fair elections and he was stopping the law from taking effect this weekend. Stephens hopes that the courts can take a closer look at the laws in the future.