Black religious leaders and Democratic politicians in Flint are calling for Michiganders to respond to last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down part of the Voting Rights Act.
The decision struck down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana. The court majority ruled the map relied too heavily on race. The ruling began reverberating through statehouses across the South as Republicans eyed the possibility of getting new voting district lines in place for the 2026 midterm elections, or at least for 2028.
Republican governors in Alabama and Tennessee have called lawmakers into special sessions seeking new congressional districts.
Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has called legislators back to Montgomery starting Monday. The special session is centered on enabling a special primary election.
Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee has also announced a special session starting Tuesday.
Republicans are eyeing the possibility of getting new lines in place for the 2026 midterm elections, or at least for 2028. Democrats are sharply criticizing the decision to try to change maps ahead of looming elections.
While congressional voting districts in the deep south may seem far away, Flint City Council president Candice Mushatt told reporters Monday this matters to Michiganders.
“We all have families from the South. A lot of us originated from the southern states,” said Mushatt, “We have phone calls we can make. We have relatives that we can educate. And we have people that we can influence and inspire.”
Flint-area Rev. Chris Martin said it’s time for churches to mobilize ahead of this fall’s mid-term elections “to make sure that we up what we’re doing for voter education and for voter rights and to make sure that we sign people up in even greater numbers to use their voice….because their voice is their vote.”
The pushback against the U.S. Supreme Court decision has already begun.
The League of Women Voters of Louisiana Monday filed an emergency lawsuit in federal court seeking to block the implementation of Gov. Jeff Landry’s executive order that attempts to suspend Louisiana’s congressional House primary elections after voting had already begun so that the state can redraw its congressional boundaries to remove the majority Black district cited in the high court ruling last week.
