Republicans are rushing to redraw congressional districts to their advantage ahead of the midterm elections following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that weakened minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.
In a matter of just weeks, new U.S. House districts already have been enacted in Tennessee and Alabama and have cleared at least one legislative chamber in Louisiana and South Carolina. But hurdles remain in courthouses and capitols before the new maps can be used in the November elections.
Voting districts typically are redrawn after a census at the start of a decade. But President Donald Trump has urged Republican-led states to redistrict now to try to hold on to the GOP’s narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds. A president’s party typically loses congressional seats in the midterms, and Trump’s approval ratings are in the negative.
Republicans stand to gain seats from the aggressive redistricting. Since Trump first urged Texas to redraw its voting districts last year, Republicans think they could win as many as 15 additional seats from new House districts in seven states. Democrats have countered only partially, hoping to pick up six seats from new districts in two states.
Here’s a look at where things stand on the most recent redistricting efforts:
South Carolina Republicans grapple with divisions
PHOTOS: Republicans are rushing to redraw districts before midterms. Here’s where things stand
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster called lawmakers into special session to consider congressional redistricting. The Republican-led House passed a plan early Wednesday that would improve the party’s chances of winning the state’s only Democratic-held seat.
Senators met for the third straight day Saturday to consider the redistricting plan, then set up a possible final vote Tuesday after what could be a dozen hours of debate.
But passage is not guaranteed. Early primary voting starts that same day, and opponents hope that puts pressure on redistricting supporters because thousands of voters could cast ballots for congressional candidates that may not be counted.
“These votes on Tuesday matter more than they ever have before,” Democratic Sen. Jeffrey Graham said.
Democrats and some Republicans have reservations. Some GOP senators fear that their attempt to win the district held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn could backfire by spreading so many Democrats into Republican-held districts that they become susceptible to being lost.
South Carolina’s primaries are set for June 9. The legislation revising the districts would set a new congressional primary for August.
Louisiana lawmakers put forth two options for maps
The Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map, which contains two majority-Black districts held by Democrats, as an illegal racial gerrymander. The state House is expected to debate a revised map next week that would significantly reshape one of those districts while giving Republicans an improved chance to win it.
Although Republicans who dominate the state Legislature are aligned on the broad contours of the new map, the House and Senate have competing visions for how to divvy up certain localities, including which parishes will be kept whole and which will be sliced up.
A House committee tweaked a map previously passed by the Senate. If the House and Senate pass different versions, a joint committee of lawmakers could try to negotiate a compromise before the session is set to end June 1.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry postponed Louisiana’s May 16 congressional primary until later this summer to allow time for redistricting.
Court weighs whether to block Alabama’s new map
A federal court heard arguments Friday on a request to block Alabama from using congressional districts that could help Republicans gain an additional seat in the midterm elections. It’s the latest twist in a long-running legal case.
Republican state lawmakers in 2023 approved a map with one majority-Black district. The court previously blocked that map and ordered a new one that resulted in Democrats winning two seats in which Black residents comprise a majority or close to it.
But the U.S. Supreme Court recently overturned that order and directed the lower court to reexamine the case in light of the Louisiana decision.
Attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU, which are representing Black voters, want a three-judge panel to prevent the state from using the 2023 map. They contend a preliminary injunction is warranted, because the Louisiana decision should not affect a separate finding that Alabama’s map was intentionally discriminatory against Black voters.
Alabama’s primary elections were May 19. But new congressional primaries are scheduled for August for the districts that are different under the 2023 map.
Tennessee lawsuit claims lawmakers went too far
A state court panel heard arguments Thursday in another NAACP lawsuit seeking to invalidate Tennessee’s new congressional map, which carves up a Memphis-based, majority-Black district represented by a Democrat. The new map could give Republicans an improved chance to sweep all nine of the state’s seats.
The lawsuit contends the General Assembly included provisions in the redistricting legislation that weren’t specifically authorized or necessary under a proclamation by Republican Gov. Bill Lee that set the agenda for the special session. Among those is a provision repealing a state law that prohibits mid-decade redistricting.
If the legislature exceeded its authority, then the lawsuit asserts that the new map cannot be used.
