President Donald Trump says Tennessee will redraw its electoral maps following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gutted key provisions of the landmark U.S. Voting Rights Act.
The Supreme Court’s decision on Louisiana’s electoral map has far-reaching implications across the country, but it also has implications for the broader electoral landscape.
The move would remove some race-related restrictions on how Congressional district maps are drawn, prompting calls from Republicans to overhaul redistricting in several states ahead of the resulting November midterm elections.
The changes come amid near-unprecedented redistricting that began last year as President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Texas to redraw its congressional maps to favor Republicans. Since then, both parties have sought to win seats through redistricting in seven states, including Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, California, Utah and Virginia.
Most recently, the Florida Legislature passed a new congressional map on Wednesday, creating 24 districts expected to be won by Republicans, up from 20 districts currently held by Republicans.
On Thursday, President Trump said in a post on his Truth social account that he spoke with Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, “where he said he would work hard to correct the unconstitutional flaw in Tennessee’s congressional map.”
Lee did not immediately confirm the statement.
Tennessee’s new map is expected to create another solidly Republican district in the state, increasing the chances of Republicans retaining a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in November.
Louisiana redraws the map
Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision concerned Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which has long been cited as a way to prevent state officials and lawmakers from diluting the voting power of racial minorities in the allocation of congressional districts.
The ruling raised the bar for maps to be considered illegal under the law, requiring challengers to prove racist intent behind how districts were drawn.
Louisiana’s current map, which includes two majority-black districts, is unconstitutional and is expected to endanger other majority-black districts across the country. Black voters have historically leaned heavily toward the Democratic Party.
On Thursday, Louisiana’s governor announced he was postponing primary voting in an effort to redraw the state’s maps, which is expected to create new Republican-dominated districts.
In addition to Louisiana and Tennessee, the Republican governor of Georgia also said he would consider whether his state would seek to redraw its maps ahead of the midterm elections.
The Supreme Court’s ruling could ultimately lead to a number of other states seeking redistricting, including Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Mississippi and South Carolina, but it is unlikely to do so this election season for a variety of reasons.
Concerns about gerrymandering
Redistricting typically occurs once every 10 years after the U.S. Census to account for population changes. This process has long been subject to gerrymandering, where districts are induced to support one party over another.
In most cases, state legislatures and officials oversee the redistricting process, but some states rely on independent commissions.
But critics say recent redistricting efforts have heated up gerrymandering, with both parties hoping to shift the electoral calculus in their favor ahead of the midterm vote.
With the Trump administration’s approval rating sagging, political analysts generally support Democrats taking back the House of Representatives, but the margins are expected to be narrow in narrowly contested seats.
