It’s been just over a week since the U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) conservative majority gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in Louisiana v. Callais. Now, we are witnessing exactly what Section 2 of the VRA was intended to protect the nation against: A sweep of brutal GOP gerrymanders being rushed through Southern state legislatures to eliminate minority political representation in the 2026 elections — even in elections that are already underway. The news certainly isn’t good, but Democracy Docket has all hands on deck and we are closely monitoring what’s happening.
As always, thanks for reading.
Jen Rice, Reporter
The state of redistricting across the nation
President Donald Trump’s redistricting arms race to rig the midterms continues to unfold. Republicans have potentially gained up to 12 seats — five in Texas, one in Missouri, one in North Carolina,four in Florida and one in Tennessee. Democrats have potentially gained up to 10 seats — five in California, four in Virginia and one in Utah. (Litigation is still ongoing in Florida, Virginia and Missouri.)
Since the Callais ruling, three more GOP-controlled states besides Tennessee have entered the fray, resulting in up to five more possible Republican seats — two in Louisiana, two in Alabama and one in South Carolina — all at the expense of Black voters.
Alabama races toward final votes to gerrymander elections already underway
Alabama lawmakers are expected to take final votes Friday on a pair of gerrymandered congressional and state senate maps, sending the bills to the governor’s desk.
There are two big reasons why Alabama should not currently be redrawing its maps in an eleventh-hour special session. First, absentee voting in the May 19 primary election has already begun. Second, the state is currently using court-ordered congressional and state senate remedial maps, implemented because the legislature’s previous maps were found to dilute the voting strength of Black voters in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Now, Alabama is asking the courts to vacate the injunctions on those maps to allow them to be used for the 2026 midterms.
If allowed by federal courts to go into effect, the maps would likely strip Black Alabama voters of political representation.
Supreme Court clears the way for Louisiana gerrymander
In a disturbing and, unfortunately, unsurprising move, SCOTUS rejected a request from pro-voting appellants in the Callais case to recall its expedited order clearing the way for Louisiana to rush through redistricting. In response to last week’s ruling, the state swiftly suspended its primary election to begin redrawing its congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterms.
In his order, Justice Samuel Alito claimed the pro-voting appellants hadn’t requested an opportunity to seek a rehearing. But the appellants argued in their filing that the second sentence in their brief had done exactly that — and Alito simply ignored it. And it appears the court ignored them again when rejecting the (second) request to reconsider the case. Now a Louisiana legislative committee will take up redistricting today.
South Carolina clears hurdle on path to gerrymander and eliminate Black district
South Carolina Republicans are taking steps to dismantle the state’s only Black-majority district and lone Democratic seat, long represented by Rep. Jim Clyburn.
The state House approved an amendment this week allowing them to take up congressional redistricting after Republican lawmakers faced intense pressure from Trump demanding that they redraw the map. The Senate will take up the measure next week.
Tennessee enacts aggressive gerrymander demanded by Trump
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed Republicans’ aggressive gerrymander into law Thursday, the same day that the GOP-controlled state legislature passed the new map and repealed the state’s ban on mid-decade redistricting. The plan carves up Memphis into three congressional districts, dismantling the state’s only Black-majority district and its one Democratic seat.
Will of the voters: Virginia, Missouri and Florida
In several states, Republicans are explicitly trying to sideline the will of voters on redistricting.
We’re still waiting on the Virginia Supreme Court to rule on a GOP challenge that could throw out Democrats’ redistricting plan, which voters approved during a special election last month.
In Florida, multiplelawsuits have been filed challenging the state’s new congressional map, an aggressive partisan gerrymander. Partisan gerrymandering is actually illegal in Florida, but it’s unclear whether the justices on the Florida Supreme Court — most of whom were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — will bother to uphold the ban, despite the fact that Floridians voted for it.
Lastly, Missouri’s drawn-out legal battle over redistricting returns to the state Supreme Court on Tuesday. The court will hear three cases related to the GOP gerrymander, including a key challenge arguing that the new gerrymandered map is not in effect because voters submitted enough verified signatures to qualify the measure for a so-called “veto referendum.”
Odds and ends
Alabama Republicans’ redistricting plan this week was met with fire alarms, flooding, and a tornado warning. If they were looking for a sign not to proceed, they ignored it.
On the heels of blowing up racial minorities’ voting rights, SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts complained this week that people see members of the high court as political actors. Which is not surprising, because they are.
What we’re doing
Democracy Docket legal content editor Ashley Cleaves is looking forward to tracking the incredible work of the Black Census Project. They just launched a major listening initiative to understand what’s on the minds of Black voters — especially across the South — as legislatures rush to erase majority-Black districts through gerrymanders and silence their voices. The group plans to collect hundreds of thousands of responses that will provide essential insights for protecting democracy.
And we’re extremely proud of Democracy Docket senior reporter Matt Cohen, who joined David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, and New York Times reporter Nick Corasaniti in an election interference panel discussion Wednesday. You can watch the C-SPAN broadcast here.
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