September 21, 2026

Gerrymandering

Virginia’s Gerrymander Champion Raided by FBI – bellwetherintel.com

pgnewser May 7, 2026 2

The woman behind the Virginia special election to effectively eliminate 4 GOP U.S. House seats is now under FBI investigation. Virginia’s State Senator L. Louise Lucas saw her offices raided, along with other businesses connected to her.

So far, only anonymous sources are cited as claiming this is connected to a corruption investigation directly linked to her. She is considered the main driver of the Virginia gerrymander election plan that is currently under legal scrutiny.

Go Deeper

Blue State Gerrymanderers on Notice, DOJ Will Enforce SCOTUS Ruling › American Greatness– amgreatness.com

pgnewser May 7, 2026 0

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Just days after a recent Supreme Court ruling against unconstitutional race-based gerrymandering, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it will enforce the decision nationwide.

Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon told Just the News, “This is the law of the land now, and eventually every jurisdiction in the United States is going to have to comply with race-free line-drawing.”

Last week, Supreme Court justices ruled 6–3 in Louisiana v. Callais that the state’s newly redrawn congressional map relied “too heavily on race” in creating a second majority-black district in the state.

That decision is expected to affect states with maps drawn to heavily favor Democrats, including California, New York, Colorado, Illinois, Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Virginia.

Many of these states have enacted their own Voting Rights Acts, which explicitly use race as a predominant factor in determining districts.

Dem Bennie Thompson says redistricting is ‘equivalent to a second Civil War’ as Mississippi considers redrawing maps to erase rep’s district | The Post Millennial– thepostmillennial.com

pgnewser May 7, 2026 0

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“We gonna have to resist with every fiber in our body. We gonna have to take this system on at every election.”

Democratic Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson compared the ongoing redistricting efforts in Southern states to a “second Civil War” as his state considers congressional map changes that could potentially eliminate his district. This follows the Supreme Court’s ruling that creating congressional districts based on the racial composition of its resident is unconstitutional.

“This is equivalent to a second Civil War,” Thompson said during an appearance on Al Sharpton’s MS NOW “PoliticsNation.”

“We’re gonna have to get our act together,” he added. “We gonna have to resist with every fiber in our body. We gonna have to take this system on at every election.”

Thompson later shared a clip of his remarks on social media, writing, “I don’t care what they say; we are committed to fighting this redistricting no matter what. There are more at stake than meets the eye, and we’ve come too far to ever turn around!”

So, After All of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Whining About the Voting Rights Act Decision, She Did This…– townhall.com

pgnewser May 7, 2026 0

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Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was not pleased with the Louisiana v. Callais decision. She filed a dissenting judgment, which enforced the ruling with immediate effect because it relates to the upcoming elections. Ms. Jackson’s dissent was ripped apart by Justice Samuel Alito, who academically called her a moron—this is becoming a common occurrence. Even liberal justices have sought to steer clear of attaching their names to her opinions.

Alito called her dissent on the judgment utterly irresponsible. And now, after all that bellyaching from Ms. Jackson, she denied a motion to recall the Callais judgment. No justices dissented.

This case is settled. It involved Louisiana creating a majority-black congressional district after the initial map was invalidated under VRA. Now, this map was struck down as unconstitutional, with the court limiting its interpretation of Section II of the Voting Rights Act, which allows congressional apportionment based on racial quotas.

The 2026 Map War: Race, Redistricting, and Trump’s Agenda– www.standingforfreedom.com

pgnewser May 7, 2026 0

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The redistricting war for the 2026 midterms is on – and it may be the most aggressive mid-decade, multi-state map fight of the modern era.In the weeks following the Supreme Court’s April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, the redistricting fight accelerated across the country. GOP-led states such as Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee began moving or preparing to move on new congressional maps, while Virginia Democrats pushed a mid-decade redraw of their own.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping new congressional map into law on May 4 that could increase Republicans’ advantage in Florida’s House delegation from 20-8 to 24-4.

Louisiana delayed its congressional primaries while lawmakers begin work on a new map. Tennessee Republicans have released a proposal that could eliminate the state’s only Democratic-held congressional district, while Alabama and other Southern states are weighing how far the Callais ruling allows them to go. But this is by no means just a red-state story.

The GOP’s “Jim Crow Gerrymander” Rips Up Memphis and America’s Civil Rights Legacy– www.thenation.com

pgnewser May 7, 2026 0

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As Republicans destroy historic Black-majority House districts in the South, they are being compared with segregationists George Wallace and Bull Connor.

In the last speech of his life, delivered at the Mason Temple in Memphis on April 3, 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the legacy of the student civil rights activists of the early 1960s: “I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream, and taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.”

The next day, King was assassinated just blocks away, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel—hallowed ground which now serves as the home of the National Civil Rights Museum. Few cities are so closely associated with the civil rights movement of the 1960s as Memphis. And fewer still have so rich a history of struggle and success in making real the promise of representative democracy.

Virginia Dems Are Officially Freaking Out That Their Gerrymandered Map Could Get Trashed– townhall.com

pgnewser May 6, 2026 0

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Virginia Democrats are clearly panicking. Rachael Bade, co-host of The Huddle, elaborated on what former Democratic Party operative and fellow co-host Dan Turrentine mentioned this week about the fate of the Old Dominion’s new congressional map. It grants Democrats a 10-1 advantage, but the state Supreme Court refused to dismiss the challenge to the map, setting the stage for serious intra-party battles.

The legal warnings were reportedly repeated endlessly, but to no effect. Now, Democratic leaders at both the Virginia and national levels could face a heavy setback if the maps are invalidated. Bade outlined the criteria the court could use to strike down the maps. Sure, the map might get approved, but if the Virginia Supreme Court sides with just one of these points, the map is cooked:

AND THE KNIVES ARE OUT FOR SOME BIG NAMES. Per Dan’s reporting, Governor ABIGAIL SPANBERGER’s staff is quietly sniping at state Senate majority leader SCOTT SUROVELL and state Senate kingmaker LOUISE LUCAS — two lawmakers who pushed back hardest on the legal warnings last fall.

[…]

If this effort goes down, those quotes won’t age well. “People are lining up behind the scenes to go public, I think, very quickly if this does not go through,” Dan foreshadowed.

BUT HERE’S THE THING — Pointing fingers won’t let Spanberger off the hook, which we discussed at length on the show. Yes, she may have privately raised concerns about the effort early on. But she’s the one in the ads. She’s the face of this thing. As our other co-host SEAN SPICER put it bluntly: “She ate the political cookie on this one.”

The other name in the crosshairs if this goes down? House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES. Dan is already hearing from some Virginia Dems who say the Democratic leader pushed too hard despite legal concerns. (Though, let’s be fair to Jeffries — he would have been slammed by the party if he hadn’t leaned in, and his team would likely wear such criticism as a badge of honor.)

The Redistricting War Has Just Begun– www.dailysignal.com

pgnewser May 5, 2026 1

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The redistricting war of 2026, which had appeared to conclude in a stalemate between Democrats and Republicans after Florida’s special session, is anyone’s to win.

In the wake of the Louisiana v. Callais ruling, Republicans in the South are on the move, ready to redraw maps the courts had previously blocked efforts to change.

The outcome of the renewed tit-for-tat redistricting war could determine which party controls the House of Representatives in 2026.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana has already signed an executive order calling off the state’s May 16 House primaries to allow for redrawing the state’s map, declared a racial gerrymander by the high court.

Louisiana has two Democrat-held districts, held by Reps. Troy Carter and Cleo Fields.

Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee has also called a special session to redistrict after the ruling. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., is the only Democrat U.S. House member from the Volunteer State.

SCOTUS Kills Race-Based Gerrymandering

pgnewser April 29, 2026 0

There were three big wins this month for the Republicans in the Gerrymandering Wars that culminated with a major SCOTUS ruling on race-based gerrymandering.

First, the Virginia Supreme Court continues to refuse to certify the special election that saw the Progressives win the “right” to use gerrymandering to eliminate 4 GOP U.S. House Seats.

Second, SCOTUS has confirmed the Texas gerrymander map that switches 5 Democrat-held seats to 5 likely GOP seats. In Florida, a gerrymander plan is advancing in the legislature that would net the GOP 4 more seats in the U.S. House.

Third, SCOTUS has struck down race-based gerrymandered districts in a move that is existentially threatening to the Democrat Party in its current iteration.

SCOTUS Protects Rule of Law By Gutting Racial Gerrymandering– thefederalist.com
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The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 bombshell ruling gutting the discriminatory practice of racial gerrymandering in the redistricting process. The 6-3 majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, found unconstitutional the twisting of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by courts “to engage in the very race-based discrimination that the Constitution forbids.”

“It’s been a good week” for the rule of law, election law expert Hans von Spakovsky told The Federalist following the SCOTUS ruling in Louisiana v. Callais.

Supreme Court Gives Republicans a Much-Needed Redistricting Win with Texas Ruling– www.westernjournal.com
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The Supreme Court reinstated Texas’s redrawn congressional map Monday, resulting in a huge win for Republicans, which could help them keep control of Congress.

The map was originally redrawn in August 2025 at the behest of President Donald Trump to add up to five additional House seats for the GOP as they head into a critical midterm election cycle this November.

It was instantly met with legal challenges, with a lower court issuing an injunction blocking the new map.

In December, the Supreme Court stepped in and issued a stay, keeping the map in place until a final ruling could be issued.

The justices initially faulted the lower court for committing “serious errors,” the main one being that it “failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith by constructing ambiguous direct and circumstantial evidence against the legislature.”

Monday’s 6-3 vote reversing the lower court ruling fell along ideological lines, with the conservative justices ruling in the state’s favor, and the three liberal justices dissenting, according to Reuters.

 

VA Supreme Court Denies Emergency Appeal From AG Jay Jones To Certify Gerrymander Election – theroanokestar.com
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On April 28, the State Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal from Attorney General Jay Jones to certify the ballots from the April 21 yes/no gerrymandering election. This means, instead of the high court now greenlighting an acceptance of the results from the controversial election, they will continue to deliberate before issuing their opinion, thus keeping the final result unknown for now.

As reported here, on April 21, a preponderance of late-reporting “yes” votes from Fairfax County pushed the “yes” side to victory, with a margin somewhat over 80,000.

Florida Republicans make peace with proposed new House map– www.politico.com

pgnewser April 28, 2026 0

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Some House Republicans spent weeks warning against a drastic redraw of Florida’s congressional map.

Now that it’s out — with Gov. Ron DeSantis targeting as many as four Democratic seats for a GOP takeover — they’re mostly keeping any criticism to themselves.

“I think they did a pretty good job,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, who said he was one of the Florida Republicans whose district changed “quite a bit.”

“But I think they could touch it up a little bit, too,” he added.

Rep. Scott Franklin said he is set to represent his third constituency in four terms. He still lives within the confines of the 18th district, he said, though it is much smaller in area.

“Mine gets significantly less red than it was,” Franklin said. “But it’s still a conservative performing seat.”

Ron DeSantis Unveils Florida Congressional Map That Could Give Republicans a Big Boost in the Redistricting War– www.westernjournal.com

pgnewser April 27, 2026 0

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a new congressional redistricting map on Monday that could net the Republican Party four more seats in the House of Representatives.

Republicans currently hold 20 of the Sunshine State’s 28 seats, so if the new map is approved, it could increase to 24.

DeSantis told Fox News, “Florida got shortchanged in the 2020 Census, and we’ve been fighting for fair representation ever since. Our population has since grown dramatically, and we have moved from a Democrat majority to a 1.5 million Republican advantage. Drawing maps based on race, which is reflected in our current congressional districts, is unconstitutional and should be prohibited.”

“Our new map for 2026 makes good on my promise to conduct mid-decade redistricting, and it more fairly represents the makeup of Florida today,” DeSantis added.

The US has a long history of changing voting districts for political reasons. Is it legal?– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser April 27, 2026 0

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The gerrymandering of House districts is becoming more rampant across the U.S.

The word “gerrymander” was coined in America more than 200 years ago as an unflattering way to describe the political manipulation of boundaries for legislative voting districts by those in charge of drawing them.

The word has stood the test of time, in part because American politics remain fiercely competitive. And with time and technology, politicians have become even more adept at drafting voting districts that benefit their political party.

Speaker Johnson Backs DeSantis on Florida’s Redistricting Plan– slaynews.com

pgnewser April 24, 2026 0

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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is urging Florida Republicans to move forward with a new congressional map, signaling a counteroffensive after Democrats narrowly pushed through a controversial redistricting referendum in Virginia.

The Virginia measure, approved Tuesday by a razor-thin margin, is expected to dramatically reshape the state’s congressional delegation in Democrats’ favor ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Viriginia Says Yes to Progressive Gerrymandering

pgnewser April 23, 2026 0

The Progressives won a major battle in the ongoing gerrymandering wars, this time scoring a narrow victory in Virginia. The ballot measure allows the progressives to change U.S. House Districts to effectively take 4 Republican seats away. The now-passed ballot measure faces legal challenges.

Dems Win In Virginia, Could Lose In Court– thefederalist.com
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Democrats and their well-heeled funders have won their rigged referendum to rig Virginia’s congressional maps, but the political boundary battle isn’t over yet.

Now come the court challenges, and that’s where the redistricting revisionists could lose their big win thanks to their unabashed manipulation of Virginia law.

“It’s illegal actually for a number of reasons,” Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, told me last week, a few days before Tuesday’s election, on The Dan O’Donnell Show in Milwaukee.

Snead asserts that Virginia Democrats, who hold the commonwealth’s political trifecta, have steamrolled the process while abandoning their plastic principles. His election watchdog organization is involved in one of several lawsuits challenging the maps and the referendum that gave Democrats the shaky imprimatur to implement them.

GOP Knows Only Way They Could Keep House ‘Was If They Cheated’– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

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On Tuesday’s broadcast of MS NOW’s “The Last Word,” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) argued that Republicans “understood that the only way they could possibly maintain a majority in the House of Representatives” “was if they cheated, if they went seeking seats in places like Texas, which is why the president began this effort.”

Host Lawrence O’Donnell asked, “You’ve just come from the House of Representatives, to the governorship, in this last election. In your view, what would it mean if the Republicans were able to conspire with Donald Trump to increase the number of Republicans in the House of Representatives so that they could cling to control of the House of Representatives for two more years?”

Spanberger answered, “Well, I think they very much understood that the only way they could possibly maintain a majority in the House of Representatives — of course, they have a slim, slim majority at the moment — was if they cheated, if they went seeking seats in places like Texas, which is why the president began this effort. Because he knew that, at the midterms, much like, back in 2018, when I was first elected to Congress, that his poor leadership, the chaos that he is creating, the war he’s begun with Iran, skyrocketing gas prices, failed promise after failed promise, would be enough to propel yet another blue wave in a midterm, in the 2026 midterm election.”