Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and other southern US states are rapidly redrawing congressional maps to eliminate Democratic districts and reduce the influence of Black voters, following a US Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act. The moves come even as some states have already begun congressional primaries, prompting criticism from civil rights groups.
Tennessee Republicans have enacted a new map that splits the majority-Black city of Memphis into three districts, effectively removing the state's sole Democrat in Congress. Louisiana is poised to implement a map that would eliminate the seat of one of its two Black Democratic representatives. Alabama successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to allow a map previously ruled as intentionally discriminatory against Black voters. In South Carolina, the Republican governor is expected to call a special session to redraw the district held by Jim Clyburn, a prominent Black House Democrat.
Georgia and Mississippi have opted not to redraw before the 2022 midterms but may do so before 2028. States like Texas, Missouri, Florida, and North Carolina, which already added Republican districts, could also redraw again. Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center, described the situation as a 'five-alarm fire for Black representation,' warning of a 'redistricting wild west.'
Alabama and Louisiana took the unprecedented step of cancelling primary elections after voting had begun. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry stated that over 42,000 ballots were cast before cancellation, telling voters to 'take it to the United States Supreme Court' if they had grievances. The Congressional Black Caucus, at an all-time high of 58 members, faces potential decimation. Democrats are considering counteroffensives in states like New York and Illinois, but face restrictions on partisan gerrymandering.
The American Civil Liberties Union has sued Tennessee over its new map on constitutional grounds, while civil rights groups seek to block Alabama's 2023 map in federal court. A conservative legal organization has also challenged Illinois' voting rights act, testing the reach of the Supreme Court's decision. Election experts note that cancelling elections after votes are cast is unprecedented absent a natural disaster, with Stuart Naifeh of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund warning that Black and Latino representation could 'disappear from the south and potentially other places.'
