Washington, D.C. — Today, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) issued a memo from the organization’s Executive Director, Marina Jenkins, to warn of a Republican legal effort to undermine or dismantle fair maps in Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia. Each of the congressional maps in these states were enacted as a result of enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2023 decision in Allen v. Milligan, which upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The result of the latest Republican strategy, Jenkins stated, could not only weaken the VRA, but also tip control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections. 

The full memo is available here. Excerpts from the memo are below:

“Three lawsuits in states across the South could tip control of Congress in 2026. In each of these lawsuits, Republicans are arguing for the reversal of newly VRA-compliant maps that resulted from the enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2023 decision in Allen v. Milligan, which upheld Section 2 of the VRA.”

***

“These three lawsuits alone could determine whether or not the national congressional map remains the fairest map we have seen in decades or reverts to a gerrymander by dismantling at least three Black opportunity districts—potentially more than the current House majority.”

***

“Dismantling Section 2 of the VRA would give Republicans further free reign to gerrymander without accountability. This builds on Republican tactics leading up to the 2024 election, when Republicans enacted an egregious partisan gerrymander in North Carolina, changing the 50-50 state’s fair 7-7 congressional map to a 10-4 gerrymander. That gerrymander ensured Republicans could pick up three additional seats leading up to the 2024 election, delivering Republicans a three-seat majority in the House.”

###