America Has Always Had a Gerrymandering Problem. This Is New.

"Before the morning of April 29, 2026, few people doubted that the Democrats would retake the House, given President Trump's tanking approval rating. Then that morning, the Supreme Court released its decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which diluted what remained of the Voting Rights Act."

"Louisiana immediately suspended its primaries to begin redrawing its maps to give Republicans an advantage and turn its two majority-Black districts into one. Tennessee advanced a map that would break up the state's only majority-Black district, and southern states that had already held primaries declared their intentions to redraw their maps in the near future."

"The apparent demise of the Voting Rights Act and its immediate effects come after almost a year of extraordinary off-cycle attempts to gerrymander maps around the country. Begun last summer when the White House asked Texas to squeeze more GOP seats from its map, the redistricting tit-for-tat seemed to have been fought to a draw."

"Beyond the short-term political implications of the reshuffled political maps are also systemic, longer-term ones. Not all that long ago, Democrats were fighting to ban partisan gerrymandering, which mainstream Republicans rejected. The tradition Democrats were trying to protect was only redistricting after the decennial census, in order to ensure accurate representation rather than partisan advantage."

Before April 29, 2026, Democrats were widely expected to retake the House due to President Trump’s low approval ratings. On that morning, the Supreme Court issued Louisiana v. Callais, diluting remaining protections under the Voting Rights Act. Louisiana suspended primaries to redraw maps, aiming to advantage Republicans and combine two majority-Black districts into one. Tennessee advanced a map that would split the state’s only majority-Black district, and other southern states planned near-term map redrawing. The shift followed months of off-cycle gerrymandering efforts, including requests to adjust maps for additional GOP seats. After Callais and a Virginia Supreme Court ruling striking a map that could add Democratic seats, Democratic prospects for a blue wave became less certain, raising longer-term concerns about one citizen, one vote and the erosion of nonpartisan redistricting norms.

Read at The Atlantic