A wave of mid-decade redistricting initiated by President Trump and accelerated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision weakening the Voting Rights Act has significantly altered congressional districts in six Republican-led states. The redistricting efforts in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina have particularly affected majority-Black and plurality-Black districts, fragmenting Black communities that were previously consolidated and dispersing them into larger majority-white districts.
In Texas, new maps shifted five seats toward Republicans, with Houston’s Black neighborhoods redistributed across multiple districts. The 9th District was substantially redrawn into the 18th District, affecting areas like Sunnyside and the Third and Fifth Wards. Historically Black suburbs including Independence Heights were moved to the 29th District. The redistricting forced two Black Democratic incumbents into the same primary race, with Rep. Christian Menefee defeating Rep. Al Green.
Florida’s May redistricting targeted the 20th District, which had the largest Black population in the state. The district’s Black population share decreased from nearly 53 percent to 45 percent, with majority-Black neighborhoods in Belle Glade, Riviera Beach, and West Palm Beach split into districts with significantly smaller Black populations. Louisiana’s new map eliminated one of two Black-majority districts, absorbing the city of Shreveport into a predominantly Republican area. Alabama’s redrawn map, previously struck down as intentionally discriminatory, reduced majority-Black districts from two to one, separating Mobile and Montgomery into districts that are now less than 42 percent Black.
Tennessee eliminated its only majority-Black district, splitting Memphis across three districts with substantially reduced Black populations. North Carolina’s redistricting, which occurred in 2025, merged the state’s most competitive district with solid Republican-leaning counties, reducing the Black population share from approximately 42 percent to 34 percent. In all six states, voting patterns show significant racial polarization, with roughly 78 percent of Black voters supporting Democratic candidates in recent elections.
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