The Unraveling of Black Voting Power

Since the Supreme Court struck down the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance requirement in 2013, Southern states have faced zero pre-emptive federal review before enacting new maps—and they know it. Now, ahead of the 2026 midterms, at least seven states are redrawing districts in ways critics call “Jim Crow 2.0,” threatening more than a dozen majority-Black seats built over decades as a remedy for a century of disenfranchisement.