Republicans in the U.S. South Are Urgently Redrawing Electoral Districts Months Before the Elections

After the Supreme Court’s April ruling weakened the Voting Rights Act, Louisiana and Alabama were allowed to use House maps more favorable to Republicans. In Florida and Tennessee, Republicans, relying on the decision, also sought to redraw district boundaries quickly ahead of the midterms, though those plans remain tied up in court disputes.

The changes, made only months before November, have forced candidates to introduce themselves to new voters on a compressed timeline, while officials rush to explain how the districts now work.

“As someone who is new to politics, this is the first campaign I have ever been involved in,” said Austin Sidwell, a Republican running in Alabama’s Mobile-based 1st District.

“Lucky me that it happened to be one of the most historic election cycles in American history,” he joked. “I do not think there have been many campaigns where the district and the candidate list changed three times—effectively in three weeks.”

In recent months, several states have moved quickly to change district lines. The process accelerated after the ruling on Louisiana’s map, which included two House districts with predominantly Black populations, and after a significant narrowing of the ability to take race into account in redistricting.

The Supreme Court allowed Louisiana and Alabama to use maps that are likely to eliminate one of the two Democratic House seats in each of those states.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had urged state lawmakers even before the Supreme Court ruling to revisit the district map, arguing that the court was likely to weigh in on the Voting Rights Act. He also argued that the existing map did not reflect Florida’s rapid population growth since the last census, although in drawing a new map this year lawmakers could use only 2020 population estimates.

Republicans in Florida ultimately adopted a new map that the party expects could give it as many as four additional seats in November. The new boundaries are already in effect, but legal challenges to them are expected to reach the state Supreme Court.

In Tennessee, Republicans, at President Trump’s urging, dismantled the district of Democratic congressman Steve Cohen, where Black voters made up a majority, and adopted a new map. It has already taken effect but is also being challenged in court.

The redrawing of districts forced some candidates to rush to get to know a new electorate, while election boards had to prepare new congressional primaries.

Democrat Shomari Figures’s seat in Alabama emerged after the Supreme Court in 2023 cleared the way for the creation of a new district in the state with a Black population. In that district, Black residents made up about 48%, and white residents about 45%.

After the latest redistricting, Figures now lives in the state’s new 1st District but is running in the newly formed 2nd District. He said about two thirds of the residents of the new district are already among his current constituents.

“Ultimately, you have to go out to people, do the work, be accessible and come to them with the same energy, the same effort and move into the new situation,” Figures said, speaking about the need to introduce himself to new voters.

Figures believes the redistricting could mobilize voters angered by the new maps and thinks the new House seat is contestable. But the outcome of the current campaign will also show whether redistricting leads to a decline in the number of Black lawmakers in Congress.

“I do not see this as a price that I am paying. I see it as a price paid by the voters I represent, and especially Black voters, because they have a legitimate opportunity to secure representation in Congress,” Figures said.

Sidwell, who remained in the same district after redistricting, noted that in some respects the new map had actually made the campaign simpler. The old 1st District ran along the entire southern border of the state, included eight counties in full and part of Mobile County. The new 1st District kept only four counties in southwest Alabama, including all of Mobile County.

“Driving from Baldwin to Henry and Houston counties for a campaign event is four or five hours just to get from here to Henry County,” Sidwell said.

Army veteran Joshua McKee, a Republican who had previously run in the 1st District, is now running in the 2nd after the redrawing. He said he approves of the new boundaries but noted widespread confusion among voters over the congressional primaries, which were rescheduled after the Supreme Court ruling.

Alabama held primaries on May 19, but the results of congressional races affected by redistricting will not be recognized. On August 11, the state will hold separate special primaries for four House districts.

“I had voters calling me and saying, ‘I did not know the election was still happening.’ ‘They said this does not count,’” McKee said.

“In voters’ minds, that applied to all elections, and they thought all the voting would be held again later,” he said. “So it affected county-official races, sheriff races and state representation as well.”

Election officials acknowledge that the new maps have sharply compressed the timeline for preparing House elections. Linda Phillips, the election administrator in Shelby County, told journalists earlier this month that the redistricting plans create an “aggressive schedule.”

Tennessee’s current map divides Shelby County, where Memphis is located, between two House districts. The new map divides it among three districts.

“We will effectively do our jobs and conduct the August election under the new parameters unless we are told otherwise,” Phillips said. She noted that the county had requested $350,000 to cover costs associated with redistricting.

Mobile County Probate Judge S. Mark Erwin is the chief election official in that Alabama county.

He said placing all of Mobile County in a single House district “makes the job easier.” But he acknowledged that a third special primary in August “compresses many of our timelines and checkpoints” in preparing for the vote.

In addition, election officials must hold separate elections within weeks—a Senate primary runoff and other votes.

“Right now, our work, frankly, is focused on encouraging people to come out and vote in the runoff,” Erwin said. “Both parties will have races on the ballot on the 16th, and we want to make sure Mobile County voters do not lose sight of the runoff for several statewide offices.”

The formal significance of these primaries lies in whether Republicans will gain several more opportunities to win seats in Congress in November, when Democrats hope to regain control of the lower chamber.

For voters of color, the stakes are more personal: the question is whether redistricting will reduce the number of Black lawmakers in Congress.

Democrat Justin Pearson, a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, lives in the state’s new 5th District but is running in the newly formed 9th District, reaching voters across a stretch of southern Tennessee that runs roughly halfway across the state.

Pearson acknowledged that the fight to win the 9th District had become somewhat harder, but said he had seen an increase in volunteers and donations in recent months.

“The question that the treacherous actions of Republicans in Tennessee and across the South put before us is whether this will be enough to break us and make us give up,” he said. “And our answer is a resounding no.”