Democrats Pivot After Supreme Court Strikes Down Louisiana Majority-Black District, GOP Redraws House Seats

Democrats are shifting their redistricting strategy after a Supreme Court ruling struck down a majority Black congressional district in Louisiana and after Virginia’s Supreme Court struck down state Democrats’ new congressional map.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters in a Monday “Dear Colleague” letter that “the extremists will not meaningfully benefit from their scandalous gerrymandering scheme,” and that “Quite the opposite. Democratic enthusiasm and resolve have grown more intense.”

Al Jazeera

Politico says Democrats now have “little to no chances left to redistrict ahead of November,” leaving them to pivot toward blaming President Donald Trump and trying to spur voter turnout for the midterms.

The same Politico report frames Republicans’ redistricting gains as “GOP gains of 10 favorable House seats or more,” while also noting Democrats’ courtroom losses in Virginia and the high court narrowing the Voting Rights Act.

In parallel, PBS reports that Republicans’ rush to redraw U.S. House districts has created voter confusion and logistical headaches for election officials, including Louisiana’s early voting disruption after a Republican governor declared an emergency and suspended congressional primaries.

Politico reports that Democrats are turning the mapmaking fight into a political messaging battle, arguing that Republicans’ moves to dismantle Black- and Hispanic-majority districts in the South will “outrage voters of color and spur them to the polls in record numbers.”

Democratic strategist Ian Russell told Politico that Democrats can go into African American communities and say, “Republicans are doing everything they can to take away your political power,” calling it “That’s a really salient message.”

CNBC

At the same time, Daily Signal says Democrats responded to the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision by discussing “an unusual gambit to replace the entire state Supreme Court,” which it says would involve lowering the mandatory retirement age for state Supreme Court justices from 75 to 54.

Daily Signal also quotes a Virginia Attorney General statement praising the Supreme Court of Virginia for allowing an April 21 vote to proceed while considering the case, saying the decision “silences the voices of the millions of Virginians who cast their ballots.”

CNN describes a Democratic battle plan for the next phase of the redistricting wars, saying top Democrats spent the last 10 months tearing up their midterm playbook and duking it out with the GOP over redrawing U.S. House districts.

CNN reports that in just 13 days, Hakeem Jeffries and his party faced a worst-case scenario after “a pair of court rulings” set Democrats’ redistricting ambitions back by as many 10 seats, leaving them “increasingly desperate to find ways to respond.”

CNN says Jeffries told CNN that “The days of Democrats unilaterally disarming are over, particularly given how high the stakes are,” and it describes plans for the next two years to push Democratic-held states to set aside nonpartisan redistricting rules or gerrymander more aggressively.

PBS adds that the changes are hitting while primary season is in progress, with Louisiana’s primary on Saturday and a week of early voting that began May 2, two days after the Republican governor suspended congressional primaries.

In the same PBS report, Louisiana voter Sallie Davis said she was confused by a sign that showed Troy Carter’s race crossed off, and she told reporters, “I think I have been disenfranchised. I think my vote, that I just voted on, it's not going to count or something.”