John,

Thanks to the mid-decade efforts by Donald Trump to redraw congressional maps in Republican-led states across the country, intending to gain an unfair advantage in the 2026 midterms, we now find ourselves in the midst of a redistricting arms race.

Republican legislatures in states like Texas and Missouri are carving up existing districts to draw themselves new ones, locking in power before the next election. In response, Democratic governors in states like California and Maryland are being forced to counter with their own map adjustments — not to gain advantage, but to keep from being permanently outmaneuvered.

In 2019, the Roberts Supreme Court held that partisan gerrymandering poses a “political question” that is “non-justicial,” and therefore beyond the Court’s decision-making purview. Dissenting, Justice Elana Kagan wrote that the Court was abandoning its duty to ensure free and fair elections.

Now, if the Supreme Court refuses to defend fair representation, Congress must. The Redistricting Reform Act, introduced by Rep. John Larson and Sen. Alex Padilla, would ban mid-decade gerrymandering and require states to establish independent citizen-led redistricting commissions. That means maps drawn by the people, not for the politicians.

Send a message to Congress: End partisan, race-based gerrymandering and protect every American’s right to fair representation. Pass the Redistricting Reform Act now.

It’s bad enough when partisan gerrymandering happens every ten years, following a census. Now this expensive and disruptive process could become an ongoing feature of our electoral landscape, with new battle lines being drawn as often as every two years -- wrecking the continuity of representatives’ relationships with their districts.  

In October, the Court heard a new gerrymandering case from Louisiana. If the MAGA justices side with Louisiana Republicans, they could gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act and wipe out both of the state’s majority-Black districts — silencing the voices of voters who have fought to protect the right to vote for generations.

Gerrymandering is election rigging by design. The result is an unequal, unstable playing field where district lines shift with each partisan skirmish — a cycle of retaliation that leaves voters confused and disenfranchised. When one side redraws the rules mid-game, the other must do the same just to stay in it. That’s not democracy — it’s manipulation by map.

It’s time to pass the Redistricting Reform Act, which would end mid-decade redistricting altogether. No more partisan cartography. No more rigged districts. No more election rigging to find “more votes” for an unpopular, authoritarian president.

Tell Congress: End the redistricting arms race. Protect every voter’s right to fair representation. Pass the Redistricting Reform Act now.

Thank you for working for free and fair elections for every American.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action