Republican lawmakers across the South are moving rapidly to redraw congressional maps, dismantle Black voting districts, and reshape political power before the 2026 midterm elections. These moves are triggering a sweeping legal and civil rights battle that advocates say threatens some of the most important gains secured since passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Civil rights leaders say the push accelerated immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which weakened protections against racial vote dilution and handed Republican-controlled legislatures broader room to redraw maps under the banner of partisan politics.
“The court has essentially put the death knell into our nation’s most singularly important federal civil rights law,” Kristen Clarke, former assistant attorney general for civil rights and current general counsel for the NAACP, told Capital B following the ruling.
From Louisiana to Tennessee, Mississippi to South Carolina, Black-majority districts are now targets in what voting rights groups describe as a coordinated effort to weaken Black political representation before voters head to the polls in 2026.
In Louisiana, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry stunned voting rights advocates and election officials by suspending the state’s ongoing congressional primary elections after the Supreme Court struck down the stat’s second majority-Black congressional district. Early voting had already begun. Ballots had already been mailed. Some votes had already been cast.
Landry defended the extraordinary move during an appearance on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” where he argued the state could not continue elections using maps the court had rejected. Asked whether racism is less of a factor in modern America, Landry replied, “I would agree with that,” before adding, “Barack Obama was elected twice as the United States president.”
Voting Rights Advocates Fight Back
The backlash from civil rights groups was immediate.
“The Supreme Court today struck down Louisiana’s congressional map and issued a ruling that eviscerates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and opens the door for states to enact discriminatory maps with impunity,” the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund said in a statement after the ruling.
Voting rights attorneys quickly sued to stop Landry’s election suspension. In a lawsuit filed by Elias Law Group, attorneys argued the governor unlawfully canceled “an election already underway,” disenfranchising voters after the electoral process had already started.
The legal and political aftershocks are now spreading across the South.
On Wednesday, Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves announced plans for a special legislative session tied to redistricting following the Supreme Court ruling. Mississippi lawmakers are already under pressure involving the state Supreme Court judicial districts after lower courts found the maps diluted Black voting strength.
At the same time, Republicans in the state are weighing whether to redraw the state’s congressional map in a way that could threaten longtime Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson, one of the most powerful Black lawmakers in Congress and former chair of the January 6 Committee.
Mississippi Today reported that President Donald Trump has urged Republican states to redraw districts before the midterms as part of a larger effort to protect GOP control of the House.
South Carolina Republicans launched a similar effort aimed directly at longtime Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, one of the most influential Black lawmakers in modern American politics. Republican legislators attempted to extend the legislative session to redraw the congressional map in ways critics said could effectively dismantle Clyburn’s district.
“Republicans in the South Carolina state legislature began the process of extending their session to allow for the redrawing of the state’s congressional map — with one goal in mind: eliminating the state’s only Democratic House district that is occupied by a Democrat,” Clyburn said.
During an interview on CNN, Clyburn warned Republicans that their strategy could backfire politically.
“I don’t know why people think I could not get reelected if they redistrict South Carolina,” Clyburn said. “I have a district that’s about 45% African American. I have no idea what the number will be after the legislature finishes, but whatever that number is, I will be running on my record and America’s promise.”
The effort ultimately stalled after five South Carolina Republicans broke ranks and voted with Democrats to block the proposal.
Still, voting rights advocates say the temporary defeat does little to slow a broader regional effort already underway.
In Tennessee, Republicans approved congressional maps that carve up Memphis, the state’s largest Black population center and longtime Democratic stronghold. Civil rights groups say the maps intentionally fracture Black voters into multiple Republican districts to eliminate Democratic representation from western Tennessee.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit challenging the maps, while Democratic state Rep. Justin Pearson blasted the redistricting effort as “racist tools of white supremacy.”
The Tennessee lawsuit argues the state is attempting to dismantle “the only majority Black Congressional district,” language civil rights groups say carries chilling echoes of earlier Jim Crow-era voter suppression tactics.
Voting rights advocates warn the South is now entering its most volatile redistricting period in decades.
“This is not democracy,” voting rights activists told The Guardian as Southern legislatures rushed to redraw maps after the Supreme Court ruling.Civil rights leaders say the current wave of redistricting battles represents the most serious threat to Black voting representation since the Supreme Court gutted key portions of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013.
“This is exactly what we warned would happen,” voting rights advocates said after the latest round of redistricting fights. “Once protections are stripped away, states move fast.”
