Alabama lawmakers looking to take part in a national redistricting battle could vote Friday on a plan to alter the state’s congressional primaries if the courts allow Republican state officials to switch to a more advantageous U.S. House map ahead of the November midterm elections.
The Republican redistricting push in Alabama and other Southern states comes as Democrats suffered a major setback in their own redistricting efforts. Virginia’s Supreme Court on Friday invalidated a voter-approved congressional map that Democrats had been counting on to deliver as many as four additional U.S. House seats in this year’s elections.
Republicans in Southern states, meanwhile, have moved quickly to try to capitalize on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Louisiana case that significantly weakened Voting Rights Act protections for minorities. Tennessee enacted new congressional districts Thursday that carve up a Democratic-held, Black-majority district in Memphis. Louisiana postponed its U.S. House primaries as lawmakers work to enact new districts. And Republicans in the South Carolina House have proposed a new U.S. House map.
Even before the high court ruling, Republicans and Democrats already were engaged in a fierce redistricting battle, each seeking an edge in the midterm elections that will determine control of the closely divided House. That battle tilted further toward Republicans on Friday because of the Virginia ruling.
