Republicans are rushing to redraw congressional districts in their favor before the midterm elections following the recent elections US Supreme Court decision This weakened protections for minorities under the federal Voting Rights Act.
Within a few weeks, new US House districts have already been approved in Tennessee and Alabama, and at least one legislature has been approved in Louisiana and South Carolina. But hurdles remain in courts and capitals before the new maps can be used in the November election.
Voting districts are usually redrawn after the census is taken at the beginning of the decade. But President Donald Trump has urged Republican-led states to redistrict now to try to preserve the narrow GOP majority in the House of Representatives in the face of political headwinds. The president’s party usually loses seats in Congress in the midterm elections, and Trump’s approval ratings are negative.
Republicans are seeking to win seats from Aggressive redistricting. Since Trump first urged Texas to redraw its congressional districts last year, Republicans believe they can win as many as 15 more seats from new House districts in seven states. Democrats objected only partially, hoping to gain six seats from new districts in two states.
Here’s a look at where things stand on the latest redistricting efforts:
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster called lawmakers into a special session to consider redistricting in Congress. Republican-led House of Representatives Plan passed Early Wednesday would improve the party’s chances of winning the only Democratic-controlled seat in the state.
Senators are scheduled to meet on Saturday – for the third day in a row – to consider the redistricting plan. But passage is not guaranteed.
Democrats oppose this, and some Republicans have reservations. Some GOP senators fear their bid to win the Democratic-controlled district will fail US Representative Jim Clyburn It could backfire by spreading so many Democrats into Republican-controlled districts that they are vulnerable to losing.
The South Carolina primary is scheduled for June 9. The legislation reshuffling the districts would set new congressional primaries in August.
The Supreme Court threw out Louisiana’s congressional map, which contained two majority-Black districts controlled by Democrats, as an illegal racial gerrymander. The state House of Representatives is expected to debate a revised map next week that would significantly reshape one of those districts while giving Republicans a better chance of winning it.
Although Republicans who control the state Legislature agree on the broad outlines of the new map, the House and Senate have competing visions for how to divide certain districts, including which parishes would be kept whole and which would be divided.
A House committee previously modified the map Passed by the Senate. If the House and Senate pass different versions, a joint committee of lawmakers may try to negotiate a compromise before the session ends on June 1.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry has postponed Louisiana’s May 16 congressional primary until later this summer to allow time for redistricting.
A federal court on Friday heard arguments on a request to block Alabama from using congressional districts that could help Republicans pick up an additional seat in the midterm elections. It is the latest development in a long-running legal case.
Republican state lawmakers in 2023 approved a map with one majority-Black district. The court had previously blocked that map and ordered the development of a new map that led to the Democrats winning two seats in which the black population constituted a majority or close to it.
But the US Supreme Court recently He annulled this order He ordered the lower court to reconsider the case in light of the Louisiana decision.
Lawyers for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union, who represent black voters, want to form a three-judge panel to block the state from using the 2023 map. They contend the preliminary injunction is justified because Louisiana’s decision should not affect a separate finding that Alabama’s map was intentionally discriminatory against black voters.
The Alabama primary election was held on May 19. But new congressional primaries are scheduled to be held in August for different regions within the 2023 map.
A state court panel heard arguments Thursday in another NAACP lawsuit seeking to invalidate Tennessee’s lawsuit New congressional mapwhich bisects a majority black district based in Memphis and represented by a Democrat. The new map could give Republicans a better chance of sweeping all nine state seats.
The suit alleges that the General Assembly included provisions in the redistricting legislation that were not specifically authorized or necessary under Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s proclamation that set the special session’s agenda. Among those provisions is a provision that repeals a state law prohibiting mid-decade redistricting.
If the legislator exceeds his authority, the lawsuit confirms that the new map cannot be used.
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Associated Press writers Jack Brock, Kim Chandler and Jeffrey Collins contributed.