Republican senators in Louisiana advanced a plan Wednesday to eliminate one of two majority-Black congressional seats before the November midterm elections while Georgia’s governor announced that he will call lawmakers back to work to redraw legislative voting districts for the 2028 elections.
The developments showed the far-reaching ripples of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down Louisiana’s congressional map as an illegal racial gerrymander, weakening the protections of the federal Voting Rights Act.
Tennessee and Alabama already have acted to implement different House maps that could help Republicans win an additional seat in the November elections, where control of the closely divided chamber is at stake.
A similar effort fizzled Tuesday in the South Carolina Senate but may not be over.
In Mississippi, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said he expects lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional, legislative and Supreme Court districts before the 2027 elections.
Republicans think they could gain as many as 15 seats so far. Democrats, meanwhile, think they could gain six seats — and the Virginia Supreme Court last week struck down a redistricting effort that could have yielded four more winnable seats for Democrats.
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