These are the Southern red states moving to redistrict after Supreme Court ruling

Red states in the South are seeking to advance the GOP’s goal of keeping the House majority this fall by redrawing their congressional maps in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court ruling that reignited the redistricting arms race.   

Tennessee Republicans approved a new map on Thursday that threatens to unseat the state’s lone House Democrat after the high court’s ruling, which declared Louisiana’s map an illegal gerrymander and gave the greenlight for more states to redraw ahead of the midterms. Other states in the South are eyeing their own changes.   

The GOP-friendly moves come as Democrats suffer a setback in their own redistricting efforts in Virginia. The state’s Supreme Court on Friday invalidated a redistricting plan approved by Old Dominion voters last month, which would’ve expanded Democrats’ edge by four seats in the state’s House delegation.  

The redistricting schemes underscore both parties’ efforts to do everything they can to minimize their losses and gain pickup opportunities as the midterms approach.   

Here’s where redistricting efforts stand in the Southern states we’re tracking: 

The Supreme Court ruled late last month that Louisiana’s addition of a second majority-Black congressional district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, a decision that weakens Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act that has long enabled new majority-minority districts. 

The justices upheld a prior federal court’s decision that barred Louisiana from using a Legislature-drawn 2024 map, which included a district stretching from Shreveport to Baton Rouge. It’s currently represented by Rep. Cleo Fields (D-La.), one of just two Democrats in the six-member House delegation. 

Louisiana officials have already delayed House primaries, initially set to start May 16, until July 15 or “such time as determined” by the state Legislature. All other primary races on the ballot, including for the U.S. Senate and state Supreme Court, will proceed as planned.  

A committee in the state Senate on Friday began hearing public comment on redistricting, and the Legislature is expected to vote on new maps next week. 

“There are very real constitutional problems with stopping an election in progress,” said Justin Levitt, a constitutional law professor at Loyola Law School who maintains the website All About Redistricting. 

“In Louisiana in particular, the governor sort of declared an emergency, but only for some races on the ballot, which shows you that there isn’t an emergency, because if there were a real emergency, you wouldn’t stop the........

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