Congressional Black Caucus members on Tuesday decried redistricting efforts by Republicans as a “racist” plan that has threatened the seats of CBC lawmakers.
Black Democratic lawmakers, many of whom represent House districts where state legislatures with GOP majorities have redrawn congressional maps, say they intend to fight the maps in court and protest them in the streets.
Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York, the Caucus chair, told reporters during a press conference on Capitol Hill that if these “racially gerrymandered maps” are upheld by the courts, the CBC could potentially lose key seats, “which would undermine decades of progress in securing fair representation for our community.”
“Their strategy is clear dilute the voting power of black and brown communities to cling to power by any means necessary. What we’re seeing in states like Texas, Missouri and others, is nothing short of a direct assault on our representation in Congress,” she said.
The Missouri House of Representatives approved new congressional lines on Tuesday that would create one new Republican-leaning district. Missouri Republicans moved forward with their map after California Democrats introduced a congressional map, which has yet to be finalized, that would further favor their party.
The new Missouri Congressional map would divide a Kansas City-based district now held by CBC member Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a veteran lawmaker who has held his seat for 20 years.
“We have an out-of-control legislature in Missouri … we are at a moment where there are powers trying to place this nation into the 1950s and they’re trying to reverse the direction of the country,” Mr. Cleaver said. “I grew up in the South. This is one of the ugliest moments I’ve seen and felt in my lifetime.”
Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits discriminatory voting procedures based on race, color, or membership in a language minority, including minority-vote dilution.
The GOP-controlled legislature in Texas kicked off the latest round of redistrictings a month ago when it drew a map designed to give Republicans a better chance in districts currently represented by Democratic Reps. Al Green, Marc Veasey, Julie Johnson, Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett.
The new Texas map heavily relies on sustaining the Hispanic support for Republicans in 2024 into the 2026 midterms.
Mr. Green and Mr. Veasey, both CBC members, said it was necessary to call out the Republican motives as racist in order to win a separate Voting Rights Act lawsuit that is currently before the Supreme Court.
CBC members are watching how that case, which concerns majority-minority districts in Louisiana, plays out as a challenge to the constitutionality of Section 2.
There is a possibility that it could affect majority-minority districts across the country.
“We ought not assume that we can allow language to become a barrier when you know if you’re going to win this lawsuit, you’ve got to say racism,” Mr. Green said. “If you don’t say racism, we don’t win, because section two of the Voting Rights Act is all about protecting racial minorities.”
Mr. Veasey called the Republican efforts a “racist plan that they are doing nationwide, plain and simple.”
Mr. Veasey said the White House is attempting to “rig the maps” because the GOP’s recently passed tax cut package is not getting support from the American people.
“It’s nothing else. It is racist. It is going to disenfranchise and disempower Black and Brown voters everywhere, because Republicans know that this big, ugly bill is unpopular.”
“Nobody was doing mid-decade redistricting in the late 1700s, nobody was doing it in the 1800s, nobody was doing it in the early 1900s. (Former Rep. Tom DeLay) did it first, and now Trump is doing it,” he said.
Mid-decade congressional redistricting actually has a relatively long history.
According to the Congressional Research Service, mid-decade congressional redistricting was not unusual during the 19th century, but seldom happened during the 20th.
In 1804 and 1808, New York drew congressional lines not related to any population shifts. This congressional map redrawing is referenced by some experts as the first example of mid-decade redistricting.
One study that the CRS cites found that at least one state redrew its congressional lines in every year between 1872 and 1896.
Ohio, for example, drew congressional district boundaries seven times between 1878 and 1892 and held five consecutive House elections under different district maps.