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Last Tuesday’s election results proved something powerful: on the current political maps, Democrats can win across the board. But even as we celebrate historic victories, Republicans are moving to rig the rules before 2026.
This morning, we brought together four of the sharpest minds in voting rights, organizing, data, and elections to unpack what just happened, what’s coming next, and what we can do about it. Watch the full conversation featuring:
Joyce Vance – law professor, legal analyst, and former U.S. attorney
Lauren Groh-Wargo – CEO, Fair Fight Action
Cliff Albright – Co-founder and Executive Director, Black Voters Matter Fund
Jack DeLapp – Southern States Deputy Director, Fair Fight Action
Democrats are Winning on Current Maps
New Jersey: Democrats won by nearly 14 points in a state VP Kamala Harris carried by just 6 in 2024.
Virginia: In a state we lost to Glenn Youngkin four years ago – Democrats secured a 15-point victory and flipped 13 state legislative seats to gain a supermajority.
California: Voters delivered stunning margins even in traditionally red Orange County – and of course Proposition 50 won handily, showing Americans support fighting back against the GOP’s map rigging scheme.
Georgia: Democrats won 63% of the vote for Public Service Commission, carrying places like Fayette County – which has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976 – by 10 points. Black voters turned out at historic rates, delivering the highest share of early vote participation we’ve ever seen.
Mississippi: Perhaps most significant, Democrats broke the Republican supermajority in Mississippi’s state Senate, picking up two seats. How? Through successful litigation using Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act – the same provision now under existential threat at the Supreme Court.
The Threat: What Gutting Section 2 Would Mean
On October 15, 2025, the Supreme Court reheard Louisiana v. Callais – a case that could allow the far-right justices to dismantle Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act entirely, the main safeguard against discriminatory political maps.
Our new report with Black Voters Matter Fund shows at least 19 safe Republican U.S. House districts could be created through GOP map rigging if Section 2 falls. Read more about the Callais case and our report here.
In response to the looming Callais ruling, GOP states are preparing to redraw maps. Louisiana moved back its election calendar to give itself time to redraw maps. South Carolina lawmakers are discussing eliminating Rep. Jim Clyburn’s district – the state’s lone Congressional Democrat.
Without Section 2 protections, today’s congressional districts that create opportunity for Black representation would disappear – Black communities in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina carved up to ensure white conservative control.
Why This Is Everyone’s Fight
This has happened before. During Reconstruction, Mississippi’s congressional delegation was majority-Black. After Reconstruction ended – in part through court action rolling back civil rights protections – it took about 100 years to rebuild Black political power.
When the decision in Shelby County v. Holder gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Texas moved the same day to implement its discriminatory voter ID law. North Carolina followed within two months with one of the most restrictive voting laws in the country that was later struck down for targeting Black voters with “near surgical precision.”
Whatever your priority issue – healthcare, economic policy, climate, education, or stopping Trump’s abuses of power with ICE and the National Guard – we can’t achieve it under permanent one-party rule.
Independent elections are the most effective way to stop the descent into authoritarianism. If Democrats can retake at least one chamber of Congress, they can slow, mitigate, and stop some of the harm the Trump regime is doing to the American people, the rule of law, and the country as a whole.
But without fair elections in 2026, we can’t do that.
What You Can Do Now
We know this fight is heading our way. More specific, concrete opportunities for action will be coming soon. But for now:
Call your state legislators. In blue states like Illinois and Maryland, demand they counteract GOP map rigging by redrawing their maps. In Southern states, demand they stand against efforts to draw unfair maps.
Stay vigilant. Follow Rights & Insights, Black Voters Matter Fund, and Joyce Vance for calls to action. More specific actions will be coming soon.
Support the organizations on the front lines. Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter Fund are mobilizing across the South to defend democracy.
Last Tuesday showed us what’s possible. Now Republicans are racing to rig the rules before 2026. We’re not going quietly into the night – and we need you in this fight.
For Democracy,
The Fair Fight Action Team
Paid for by Fair Fight Action.
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