This month saw plans move forward for the elimination of the majority-Black US voting districts. The focus has been on the South, which has a long history of voting rights advocacy following the end of the Civil War, with the 1870 passage of the 15th Amendment, which guaranteed the right to vote for Black men, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting.
With such drastic measures—eliminating the majority-Black districts across the South—at the direction of US President Donald Trump , Democrats are voicing concerns.
It's unclear, however, how effective they can be against the US Supreme Court and Republican-led state governments on the president's side.
"This is a conscious effort to roll back the abolish the Voting Rights Act and abolish the 15th Amendment," David Frank, professor of rhetoric and political communication at the University of Oregon, told The New Arab . "Congress developed the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court has dramatically weakened it. It was the beginning of our multi-racial democracy." What is "gerrymandering"? "Gerrymandering" is the practice, through selective redistricting, of politicians picking their voters rather than voters picking their politicians. Though it is considered undemocratic, it is not illegal under federal law.
Racial gerrymandering is, however, illegal under the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution. The two key terms used in gerrymandering are "cracking" and "packing": the former means separating voters within the same area to dilute their voting power, and the latter means concentrating voters in a district to limit their representation. Which states face losing majority-Black districts? A 29 April Supreme Court ruling that dismantled a majority-Black district in Louisiana appears to have laid the groundwork for other states to eliminate their "majority-minority" districts.
The following states have taken steps to dismantle their majority-Black districts: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. What is the context of the current redistricting push? Since returning to the office for a second term, Trump has been advocating for ways to strengthen the Republicans' chances of winning elections. This includes trying to prevent early voting and mail-in ballots.
He has also taken the unusual step of pushing for congressional redistricting mid-decade, even though redistricting is traditionally done every 10 years following the census. What are party leaders saying? Democrats have been increasingly outspoken on the issue of redistricting, particularly with recent measures that would eliminate Black-majority districts.
This week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has promised a "massive Democratic redistricting counteroffensive" and has urged Democratic governors to move forward with their own redistricting.
California Governor Gavin Newsom was one of the first blue-state leaders to mount a counteroffensive against Trump's redistricting, in which blue districts were added in a special election following the new Republican-favoured congressional map in Texas. Could the Republicans face blowback? There is a strong possibility that Trump's plan to gain Republican congressional seats through redistricting could backfire. Creating new Republican-leaning districts from dismantled majority-Black districts does not guarantee that they will vote Republican, particularly given the president's declining popularity.
Moreover, Trump's extreme redistricting measures have galvanised Democrats, some of whom have vowed to move forward with their own redistricting in blue states regardless of the outcomes of Republican redistricting.
If the Democrats retake control of Congress in the midterms, as predicted, they are likely to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would strengthen protections for Black voters that are currently being reversed.
"It may be that this backfires on the Republicans ," veteran pollster James Zogby told The New Arab .
He believes the outcome of Trump's redistricting is yet to be determined.
He noted that the previous redistricting that created majority-Black districts in the South was largely done to isolate Black voting blocs. "By putting Blacks back in the pool, it creates more opportunity for Democrats to win," he remarked.