This week at Democracy Docket: The GOP’s rush to kill off Black political power continues — but there’s also reason for hope

At Democracy Docket, we’re proud of the enterprise journalism we publish, including scoops and original reporting on voting and democracy issues you won’t get anywhere else. 

But some weeks, our focus is simply on keeping readers up to date with what’s happening. With Republicans continuing to ram legislation aimed at destroying Black political power through statehouses across the South, this was one of those weeks.

South Carolina lawmakers first rejected a plan to scrap the state’s lone majority-Black congressional district, then revived it after the governor intervened. A special session where the legislature will try to get the new map into law began Friday, with one Democrat telling her colleagues: “You should be ashamed of yourselves.” Matt Cohen brought you every step in the process.

Louisiana is halfway towards eliminating one of its two Black-majority districts, with the state Senate approving a measure to do that Thursday. The state’s governor, meanwhile, said it’s not a big deal, and “not my fault” that a primary election in which tens of thousands of votes had already been cast was literally halted midway to allow the effort to go forward. Jim Saksa kept you covered.

Meanwhile, Tennessee’s recent gerrymander — which, you guessed it, eliminated the state’s only Black-majority district — has been hit with a barrage of lawsuits, several claiming that the new map intentionally discriminates on the basis of race. 

Oh, and the gerrymander wasn’t enough for Tennessee’s GOP lawmakers. They’re still mad that their successful campaign to deny Black voters any representation in Congress wasn’t met with more politeness and civility by Democrats. So last week, they stripped them of all their committee assignments — meaning not a single Black state lawmaker now sits on a committee. Yunior Rivas brought you the news from the Volunteer State.

And in Florida, a court heard a bid to block the state’s recently passed congressional map for violating a voter-approved ban on partisan gerrymandering. A lawyer for the plaintiffs called the evidence of partisanship in the map’s creation “staggering.” But, as Jen Rice explained, with the state Supreme Court thought to be in the pocket of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), even that may not be enough.

Plans to gerrymander advanced in other Southern states even without lawmakers meeting. The governors of Georgia and Mississippi both announced plans to draw new congressional maps, to go into effect ahead of the 2028 election. And the Supreme Court greenlit Alabama’s plan to revert to a map that scraps one of the state’s two Black-majority districts. 

That map, by the way, had previously been struck down for violating the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against Black voters. But now that the justices have made clear that’s not something states have to worry about, it’s full speed ahead.

Finally, Missouri’s top court ruled — just hours after hearing arguments — that the state’s gerrymander can go into effect for this year’s election, despite a campaign to give voters a chance to repeal it via ballot measure. 

There was bad news for Democrats’ attempts to counter the GOP, too. Virginia’s governor confirmed that the state would use its old congressional map this fall, after a new Democratic-backed map was struck down by a court despite being approved by voters. And, to no one’s surprise, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a plea to come to Democrats’ rescue.

But it would be wrong to end on a note of doom and gloom, because all is definitely not lost. 

Yes, the GOP will have an undeserved edge in the midterms, thanks to the gerrymandering frenzy set off by President Donald Trump and turbocharged by the Supreme Court. But Trump is so unpopular that it may not be enough for them to hold onto the House anyway. More important, as Jim explained, if Democrats are willing to play hardball — and the signs are positive on that front — they can offset or even surpass the GOP’s gains by doing their own redraws in blue states like New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Maryland. 

Trump’s gerrymandering war has been underway for nearly a year now. But it may only be getting started.