Southern States Rush Redistricting After Supreme Court Ruling on Voting Rights Act

A wave of congressional redistricting is hitting Southern states this week after the Supreme Court's conservative majority last week cut a major protection from the Voting Rights Act. The ruling has prompted Republicans to push for quick changes to U.S. House district maps before this year's midterm elections.

Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee have emerged as the newest fronts in a redistricting battle that has lasted nearly a year between President Donald Trump, Republicans and Democrats. As many as a dozen House seats could shift in these fights.

Republicans hold a slim House majority heading into the midterms. Control of the chamber during the last two years of Trump's second term hangs in the balance.

Spotlight falls on Louisiana, whose congressional map the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional. The justices altered the 1965 Voting Rights Act by deciding race cannot guide the drawing of legislative districts.

On Monday, the court ordered its Louisiana ruling to take effect right away, skipping the typical one-month delay. That allows the GOP-led state legislature to start redrawing the map as soon as this week.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry delayed this month's U.S. House primaries last week in response to the ruling. His executive order "ensures we uphold the rule of law while giving the Legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and lawful congressional map," Landry said.

Louisiana Republicans seek to remove one or both Black-majority House seats held by Democrats. Democrats have filed lawsuits to stop the effort.

In Alabama, lawmakers with a GOP supermajority in both chambers met Monday to pursue redistricting that could wipe out one or both of the state's two Democratic-leaning House districts. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey called the special session.

Any new Alabama map requires Supreme Court approval. The court currently bars redistricting there until 2030, and it remains unclear if that ban will lift.

Tennessee lawmakers convene in special session Tuesday to craft a new map that could eliminate the state's lone Democratic House seat. Republican Gov. Bill Lee spoke with Trump last week after the ruling.

Hours after Trump posted on social media that Lee "would work hard" on Tennessee's map, the governor called the session. "We owe it to Tennesseans to ensure our congressional districts accurately reflect the will of Tennessee voters," Lee said in a statement.

South Carolina appears unlikely to redistrict in time for the midterms. A top aide to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster told Fox News Digital the state will not act. "We do not anticipate the Governor calling a special session," spokeswoman Michelle LeClair said.

Longtime Rep. Jim Clyburn is South Carolina's only Democrat in its seven-member House delegation.

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said last week the ruling will not affect this year's elections there, but changes will come before 2028. The state primary is in two weeks.

Trump urged GOP states to move forward despite primary schedules. "We should demand that State Legislatures do what the Supreme Court says must be done," he posted over the weekend. "This is going to help us win elections!"

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday that redraws the state's congressional districts, creating four more Republican seats by removing Democratic ones. Republicans now hold Florida's delegation 20-8.

In Virginia, voters two weeks ago narrowly approved a referendum that could hand redistricting power to the Democratic legislature through 2030, potentially boosting their delegation to 10-1 from 6-5. The state Supreme Court has not ruled on challenges to the plan.

Trump first proposed mid-decade redistricting last spring to protect the GOP House majority after Democrats took it in the 2018 midterms. The goal: redraw maps in Republican states to add safe seats before midterms.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session for a new map. Democratic lawmakers fled the state for two weeks to block quorum and delay the bill. Trump called Texas the "biggest one" that would add five seats.

California voters passed Proposition 50 in November, shifting redistricting from a nonpartisan commission to the Democratic legislature. That should add five Democratic districts to offset Texas.

The push spread to Republican-led Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina. But a Utah judge rejected a GOP map last year and approved one creating a Democratic district. Indiana's Senate killed a redistricting bill in December despite Trump pressure.