House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spent the last several months convinced that Florida would be the graveyard of the Republican majority. He obsessed over the Sunshine State like a man looking for lost keys under a streetlamp, only to realize the locks had already been changed.
Now, with his Florida fantasies fizzled out, Jeffries is forced to watch from the sidelines as Republican legislatures across the South move with precision to cement their control before the midterms.
From the statehouse in Alabama to the Supreme Court of Virginia, new developments in redistricting are shifting the political landscape.
In Alabama, the state legislature passed a plan on Friday that would establish a new primary schedule for congressional seats if the courts allow the state to use revised district maps.
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The legislation now sits with Republican Governor Kay Ivey. Republican Senator Greg Albritton clarified that the measure is a contingency plan, stating, “Should there be no court order issued, then this bill would have no effect.”
The move follows a court-ordered map that led to the 2024 election of Democratic Representative Shomari Figures. Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, a Democrat, challenged the effort, arguing that Republicans are attempting to “strip representation from Black voters” to gain a partisan advantage.
Simultaneously, the Virginia Supreme Court issued a ruling that overturned a redistricting plan previously expected to favor Democrats. The court found that the Democratic-led legislature violated constitutional procedures by placing a redistricting amendment on the ballot while early voting for a general election was already in progress.
The court noted that over 1.3 million ballots had been cast before the initial legislative approval was finalized, rendering the amendment invalid.
In Louisiana, the debate over representation grew tense as a Senate committee reviewed several map options. One proposal by Republican State Senator John “Jay” Morris would reduce the number of Black-majority districts.
Morris defended the maps as an effort to be “respectful of the traditional boundaries” of the state, adding, “I don’t think we should care that much about race.”
Civil rights activists, including 71-year-old Leona Tate, testified against the changes. Tate told lawmakers they had a choice to either draw a map reflecting the state’s actual demographics or one that tells her grandchildren “that their votes don’t count.”
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South Carolina lawmakers also convened Friday to discuss a map that could potentially allow Republicans to sweep all seven of the state’s congressional seats. The plan includes a significant redrawing of the 6th District, currently held by Democrat Jim Clyburn.
During the hearing, Democratic State Representative Justin Bamberg acknowledged the legal arguments for the map but questioned the ethics of the move.
“I agree if the law allows us to do it, then we can do it,” Bamberg said. “But I can slap somebody’s mama and it’s not the right thing to do.”
These developments follow Tennessee’s enactment of a new map on Thursday that divides a Democratic-held district in Memphis, a move that prompted an immediate lawsuit from the state’s Democratic Party. National projections suggest the GOP could gain as many as 14 seats through these new districts, while Democrats believe they could gain up to six.
However, analysts note that aggressive redistricting can sometimes create highly competitive districts that may not perform as predictably as the parties intend.
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