A Supreme Court decision Wednesday invalidating Louisiana’s congressional map and paring back the Voting Rights Act prompted some Republicans to call for redistricting in other states — even ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The dissenters in the 6-3 decision warned that it would allow states with residential segregation and racially polarized voting to systematically dilute minority citizens’ voting power by carving them into separate districts. In only a few hours, some GOP lawmakers proposed a redrawing of maps that would advantage their candidates. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who is running for governor in the Volunteer State, posted a picture of a completely red map. Republicans currently have an 8-1 advantage in the congressional delegation. “I urge our state legislature to reconvene to redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis,” Blackburn wrote. “I've vowed to keep Tennessee a red state, and as Governor, I'll do everything I can to make this map a reality.” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., running for governor in his state, called for redistricting that would target the state's two districts represented by Democrats. And South Carolina gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., reiterated his call for the state to redistrict and target its lone Democrat in the House, Rep. James E. Clyburn. “Today’s ruling is a turning point for our state! With a GOP supermajority, it’s time to redraw the lines so NO ONE has a guaranteed seat. Let’s create more competition in our congressional seats!!” Norman posted on the social platform X. Rick Hasen, a UCLA School of Law professor who focuses on voting rights, wrote online Wednesday that the decision could still impact states where redistricting is ongoing, like Florida, but its nationwide impact may not be felt until after November. “What this means for the 2026 elections is uncertain. In many states, primaries are over or nearly so. It is hard to imagine a state ordering a rerunning of primaries under new districts to gut old Section 2 districts. But it’s possible,” Hasen wrote. Still, President Donald Trump himself mused on the prospect when asked about the ruling. “Yeah. I would say they would do that. They have time to do it,” the president told reporters. Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University who focuses on election law, said Wednesday’s decision gives states broad freedom under federal law to draw district lines to seek partisan advantage, Levitt said. At the same time, Levitt said that the hassle for incumbents may temper the zeal for calls to redistrict right now, rather than after this fall. “You're going to hear calls for movement all over the place today, like a lot of people are going to get very excited about redrawing all the districts all the time. I don't think that most of those are going to play out for 2026 just because it's also going to be a lot of incentive for incumbents to the lines to stay where they are,” Levitt said. Levitt said that the further states are in the election process, the more likely it is that they will wait until after November to draw new lines. Also, Republicans are facing a potential “good year” for Democrats electorally, and they may not want to expose vulnerable members of the House, he said. “Wherever you put Democrats, you got to put them somewhere. It turns out that if you're going to put them somewhere, over and above where you've got them already, that's going to mean weakening some Republican seats and then in a wave year that starts to look like foolish politics,” Levitt said. Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidates Rick Jackson and Burt Jones both called for the state to redistrict. Jackson called for the state to redistrict ahead of the state’s May 19 primary. “Democrats nationally are trying to redistrict their way back to power, and what happened in Virginia is just the tip of the spear. There is no time to waste. Georgia must act now to ensure secure elections in Georgia and counter the Democrats’ national assault on our elections,” Jackson’s statement said. Experts and civil rights groups said that state legislatures have broad powers over their elections, but in some states the electoral process has already started and untangling that could be difficult. Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, told reporters Wednesday that states could still crack open the mapmaking process, even far into the electoral calendar. “States have wide latitude to call special sessions. They have wide latitude to, in fact, halt elections and do things that would typically be beyond imagination, certainly unprecedented and out of the norms. But that happens to be the moment that we're in,” Nelson said. Nelson said her group and others were evaluating their options if states such as Louisiana or others start to redistrict because of the decision. Nelson estimated that more than a dozen House seats nationwide could change. Rep. Terri A. Sewell, D-Ala., a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, acknowledged the decision put Democratic seats in jeopardy and said the case accelerated the "race to the bottom" in partisan gerrymandering. To the extent that it's inviting Republican states to redistrict, “it also encourages blue states to do exactly the same,” Sewell said. “I'd take 52 seats from California, I sure would, and 17 seats from Illinois. Because at the end of the day, they're rigging this election to try to win, and we just can't sit back here and do nothing.” Louisiana uncertainty As of Wednesday, Louisiana is still holding its primary election on the map ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The justices had stayed the lower court ruling finding the map unconstitutional in 2024, but Wednesday’s decision sent the case back to that lower court. Although the state legislature pushed back the election calendar through legislation last year, the state’s primary election process has already started, and the secretary of state website said the early voting period begins Saturday. The state’s Secretary of State, Nancy Landry, issued a statement Wednesday saying her attorneys were still evaluating the decision. “My lawyers are currently analyzing the opinion. We are limited in what we can say at this time as this continues to be active litigation, with the case remanded for proceedings back to the Western District,” Landry said. Alanah Odoms, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, told reporters Wednesday it was still an open question whether legislators would rush to change Louisiana’s maps when early voting is set to start this weekend. “Our hope is that this governor and this state legislature would not take the unprecedented and unlawful act of subverting an election that is already in progress, though they will certainly be emboldened with that idea based upon the ruling that we have this morning,” Odoms told reporters. Odoms said that the group anticipates that the state will eventually redistrict. “We don't know whether that new configuration will be a 5-1 map or a 6-0 map. He's indicated both options, but either one would be a slap in the face to hundreds of thousands of Black voters in the state of Louisiana,” Odoms said.
