Several Southern states are moving to redraw voting maps amid upcoming elections. The Republican-led efforts in Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama and South Carolina were given the green light after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority dealt a ruling that significantly weakened the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Regarded as the legislative crown jewel of the civil rights era, the law prohibited voting procedures that discriminate based on race while strengthening equal representation for voters of color. The Supreme Court significantly narrowed those protections on April 29 in a 6-3 ruling that the creation of a majority-Black Louisiana congressional district in 2024 was an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”
Since that decision, Republicans in Tennessee have reshaped a U.S. House map to their party’s advantage, helping President Donald Trump in his efforts to hold onto Republican majorities in Congress in the November midterm elections. In Louisiana, Republican officials have suspended the state’s U.S. House primary with the intent to do the same. And as of press time, lawmakers in several other states in the South were working on redrawing—pending legal challenges—majority African American districts that have traditionally elected Democrats.
“People are concerned [that] as time goes on, that what’s happening in Louisiana could reach here eventually, and that more states start participating in that,” says Craig Knight.
The general manager of KCEP Power 88—whose thoughts and opinions in this article are his own and not that of the radio station—recalls his parents’ generation’s fight for civil rights. At 61 years old, he says it was “not that long ago” that the Voting Rights Act passed.
“I was born in the end of 1964, so when the civil rights movement was going on. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 happened. I like to say that for my generation, our parents and grandparents had us in mind when they were doing this. And to be in our 60s and to see this happen is heartbreaking, it’s disheartening, and it’s sad,” says Knight. “I feel like something was taken away from us, that we worked so hard to obtain and to accomplish.”
In the dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan said the majority had effectively “eviscerated” the Voting Rights Act.
In a statement to the Weekly, Nevada Democratic U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, called it a “direct attack on voting rights, fair representation, and Black political power.”
“This is about power: who has it, who gets locked out, and who gets to shape the future. We’ve seen this playbook before when those in power fear the voice of the people, they change the rules,” Horsford said.
“But this should concern every American. If politicians can rig maps, gut voting protections, and roll back economic inclusion to entrench themselves, then democracy itself is on the line.”
The Supreme Court case in question, Louisiana v. Callais, resulted from a challenge to Louisiana’s creation of a second majority-Black congressional district to comply with what a federal judge said the Voting Rights Act required. In the court’s majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito argued that the Bayou State was not required to do so—even though Black residents make up one-third of its total population.
In the wake of the decision, Nevada officials and advocates are reacting with concern and caution, warning that voting rights and representation in the Silver State are also at risk.
Will partisan redistricting happen in Nevada?
Nevada last updated its congressional maps in a 2021 special session of the Legislature. With a Republican governor and a Democrat-majority Legislature, it seems less likely to redraw new boundaries until at least 2031, when federal law requires it based on 2030 Census data. However, the ruling’s broader legal implications could still reach the Silver State in ways that are harder to predict.
Sen. Dina Neal
Nevada Sen. Dina Neal, a Democrat of the Nevada Black Legislative Caucus, says she believes the state’s existing voting maps are equitable. While Nevada lacks a standalone majority-Black district, voters of color comprise more than 50% of the total electorate in three of the state’s four congressional districts.
Could those districts now be at risk?
“I hope not,” Neal says, adding that her final term as a state senator will end prior to the 2030 Census-based redistricting period. “Hopefully, there will still be members of the body who have the historical context and knowledge to not go through the business of gerrymandering the state to disenfranchise communities of color.”
Neal says she wasn’t shocked by the Supreme Court ruling, noting that the three justices President Trump appointed in his first term—Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett—cemented a conservative supermajority that has consistently ruled against voting rights protections.
As a former attorney who earned her Juris Doctor from Southern University Law Center in Louisiana, what really struck her about the Supreme Court’s most recent decision was just how far Alito’s majority opinion went in its characterization of the South—as though the protections in the Voting Rights Act were no longer needed. In it, Alito wrote that “vast social change has occurred throughout the country and particularly in the South, which have made great strides in ending entrenched racial discrimination.”
“I was more surprised that Alito claimed we were far removed [from racial discrimination] and that the Southern states, especially, are no longer doing extreme racism and have changed their behavior,” Neal says.
Nevada Republican Party chairman Michael McDonald praised the decision, calling it a “win for fairness and the integrity of our elections.”
“The Supreme Court rightly rejected the idea that Americans should be divided by race when drawing congressional districts,” McDonald wrote in a statement. “For too long, race-based mandates have distorted the redistricting process, putting politics and identity ahead of fair representation. Nevadans, like all Americans, deserve maps that reflect their communities and not political lines drawn to meet racial targets.”
The path forward
Communities of color have surmounted voting barriers in the 20th century as well as the 2020s. Take for instance in 2020, when Trump’s Postmaster General cut back on the number of mail sorting machines it used—increasing the chances of mail ballots (widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic) going uncounted.
Knight says many callers to the radio station and people in his community expressed this fear. So KCEP partnered with the county and activated a ballot drop-off drive-through to ensure the community that their votes were secure. Hundreds participated.
Now faced with the Supreme Court’s unprecedented interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, and how that could impact elections, Knight says the focus should be on voter registration and engagement in the upcoming midterm election. Taking place November 3, it could reshape the political makeup of a U.S. Congress that’s currently dominated by a Republican majority in both chambers.
“The thought is, if we can turn out for the midterms and help with a shift in the House and Senate, then that can probably help start reversing some of the things that are in place now,” Knight says. “The feeling is that we have to get it done this midterm. Otherwise the thought and the feelings are that this could be our very last time that we will have the right to vote or freedom to vote. This might be the last time we have an election.”
Horsford is calling on his peers in Congress to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore much of the federal oversight of state voting laws lost to Supreme Court actions. Though it’s passed the House twice, the bill remains stalled in a polarized Senate.
Shannon Miller contributed to this story.
