Call this the “destruction issue” of On the Docket.
With the 2026 midterm elections just over four months away, President Donald Trump’s “redistricting war” and the push to eliminate Black representation across the South appear to be coming to a close — at least for this election cycle. This week, we survey the damage and explain how it has changed voting in America.
Also, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais gutting the Voting Rights Act, white voters are trying to eliminate the last remaining Black-majority district in Louisiana. And what effects will SCOTUS’ decision have downstream? A recent ruling in Mississippi gives us an idea. And the picture isn’t pretty.
As always, thanks for reading.
Jen Rice, Reporter
Scorched earth: How Trump’s gerrymanders and the Supreme Court burned redistricting to the ground
America’s system of electoral redistricting has never been perfect for ensuring that maps are drawn to benefit voters, not politicians or parties. But over the past year, conservatives have radically transformed it into virtually unrecognizable terrain, perhaps most closely resembling a burn scar — the term for the scorched land left behind after a wildfire.
As Democracy Docket readers know, we’ve been reporting nonstop on redistricting for the past year. Now, following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Callais and the past year of GOP gerrymanders, here’s an epilogue (or maybe an obituary?) explaining how the wildfire of redistricting, accelerated by SCOTUS decisions, has completely changed America’s redistricting legal landscape.
Partisan redistricting is here to stay. Protections against racial gerrymanders are gone. And the law appears to explicitly work for Republicans and against Democrats.
In a media landscape full of noise, Democracy Docket cuts through with facts, focus and fearlessness. Join for $120/year and power reporting that holds the line for democracy.
Court upholds map targeting Mississippi Black voters, in latest sign of Callais’ impact
This week, a federal judge upheld DeSoto County, Mississippi’s local election map — after Black voters had argued it was drawn to suppress their political power. The impact will reverberate beyond Mississippi and the South.
The ruling is just the latest sign that SCOTUS’ Callais ruling has made it virtually impossible for voters to challenge discriminatory maps at any level.
Black residents make up nearly one-third of the Mississippi county’s population, but no Black candidate has been elected to a county office in at least 20 years. The court, which conducted a 12-day trial earlier this year, found Black voters’ evidence “simply too little to carry the day … under the new Callais standard.”
White voters are working to dismantle Louisiana’s remaining majority-Black district
White plaintiffs in the Callais case already succeeded in gutting the Voting Rights Act and dismantling one of Louisiana’s two majority-Black districts. Now they’re pushing even further, working to eliminate the remaining district. A group of voters hit back this week, filing a motion to dismiss that seeks to stop the district court from reviewing whether that district complies with SCOTUS’ landmark ruling in the case.
The pro-voting plaintiffs are arguing that the court is limited to addressing just the district that was already targeted and "it may not consider or impose a remedy for an unproven racial gerrymander in District 2 that it never addressed or adjudicated."
No one is covering the GOP's redistricting scheme as closely, or with as much context and analysis, as Democracy Docket. Our 30-person team works around the clock to bring you fearless, democracy-focused reporting. Become a member to support our newsroom.
Republicans have potentially gained up to 14 seats for the midterms — five in Texas, four in Florida and one each in Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama. Democrats have potentially gained up to six seats — five in California and one in Utah.
Gov. Wes Moore (D) says Maryland lawmakers will be coming back to Annapolis soon for a redistricting special session.
Georgia Republicans shockingly backtracked on Gov. Brian Kemp (R)’s plan to redistrict, closing out the special session without advancing any new maps. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R) warnedthere could be another redistricting attempt in November — but, by then, it might not be Democrats who need to be worried.
North Carolina Democrats are sharing their plans to fight gerrymandering by “taking back our courts” in 2028.
What we’re doing
Many Democracy Docket staffers have been closely following the World Cup. They noted this week that Folarin Balogun, a star on the American team, is only able to represent the U.S. because he happened to be born in Brooklyn when his Nigerian parents weren’t allowed to fly back to the U.K. due to his mother’s pregnancy — a circumstance that automatically granted U.S. citizenship. As DD readers know, the Trump administration is currently asking the Supreme Court to eliminate birthright citizenship.
Meanwhile, I celebrated my birthday this week by going to see the musical Suffs at the National Theatre in D.C. It tells the story of the activists who led the women’s suffrage movement — their tensions, concerns, competing strategies, and, ultimately, their success. It’s a timely reminder of how hard advocates fought to establish the voting rights that, unfortunately, we still need to protect so vigilantly to this day. The show is on a national tour this summer, stopping in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Memphis and Fort Worth, with more cities to be announced.
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