Excerpted from Punchbowl News May 4, 2026 newsletter:
There’s a redistricting frenzy breaking out across the South as GOP governors and legislators — under pressure from Trump — scramble to redraw minority-majority districts in order to replace Black Democrats with loyal Republicans. This comes after the Supreme Court’s Callais decision. The goal is to try to save Speaker Mike Johnson’s endangered House GOP majority, and maybe the final two years of Trump’s presidency.
Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama are the battlegrounds for the spiral of legal and political moves and counter-moves. There’s also action in South Carolina, Virginia and Florida.
More than a dozen House seats are in play here. Some of the technical legal questions will likely be resolved by the end of today. But the political scramble is just revving up.
Louisiana.GOP Gov. Jeff Landry has suspended the already begun primary elections for House seats, drawing outrage and lawsuits from Democrats. Landry’s move would allow the Republican-dominated state legislature to redraw congressional maps following last week’s Supreme Court decision gutting Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Bayou State Republicans could draw out one or both of the Democrats in the congressional delegation, Reps. Cleo Fields and Troy Carter. It’s unclear how far Louisiana Republicans will go. They’re waiting on SCOTUS for a formal Callais notification that will allow them to proceed.
The Supreme Court had already ruled that gerrymandering Congressional lines to achieve a purely political purpose was okay, setting off a race to grab more seats for the party in power in Texas, California and other states. The Supremes’ latest pronouncement invites every state with clear cut party majorities (Red or Blue) to join the fray.
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