THIS WEEK

• California, Virginia, Maryland: Democrats are pushing hard with redistricting offensive
  
  
• Florida court tosses GOP suit attempting to influence elections by challenging U.S. census
  
  
• North Carolina election board flags hundreds of thousands of voters for potential disenfranchisement

REDISTRICTING

California, Virginia, Maryland: Democrats are pushing hard with redistricting offensive

Democrats dominated the headlines in this week’s updates from the national redistricting battle.

The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) gave* the final greenlight to California’s redistricting plan, clearing the way for Democrats to potentially pick up five congressional seats in the 2026 midterm election — a plan designed to counter the five seats that President Donald Trump may pick up after Texas redrew its electoral maps.

That order didn’t come as a huge surprise. When the SCOTUS majority signed off on the Texas map in December (despite a Trump-appointed federal judge concluding it was likely an illegal racial gerrymander), they signaled that they considered the new California map to be a legal partisan gerrymander, too. 

That distinction — partisan vs. racial — is important! Since 2019, the SCOTUS majority has said partisan gerrymandering is fine with them — a decision that some Republicans in California, Virginia and Maryland may now lament.  

So while the outcome wasn’t surprising, it is worth noting that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) intervened in the case on the Republicans’ side. Because one thing about Democracy Docket is we’re not going to miss an opportunity to highlight a big loss for Trump’s DOJ. 

This week also brought some progress in Virginia redistricting, where Democrats are defending* their plan in court. The state court of appeals just hurried the case to the state Supreme Court, which will give Virginia’s highest court a chance to rule on whether Democrats’ redistricting plan can go forward — and also likely give Virginians (and interested Democracy Docket readers) a quicker ruling.

Simultaneously, Virginia Democrats are also making the case for redistricting to the public. That’s important because, if the state Supreme Court rules in Democrats’ favor, voters will get the final say: In an April special election, they will decide whether to use the new map in 2026.

The stakes are high. The proposed Virginia map may net Democrats four more seats in Congress, which could prove to be essential for countering the GOP’s possible gains from multiple gerrymanders across the country. And there may be more GOP gerrymanders on the way, since Florida Republicans are planning to redistrict in April. 

Meanwhile in Maryland, Democrats’ redistricting plan — which could allow the party to pick up one additional seat — continues to inch (uncertainly) forward. On Monday, the Maryland House passed a new congressional map. But there’s some major opposition ahead from Senate Democrats. Read more about redistricting here.

*Intervening defendants are represented in the lawsuit by the Elias Law Group (ELG). ELG Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.

CENSUS

Florida court tosses GOP suit attempting to influence elections by challenging U.S. census

That brings us to yet another GOP legal tactic for trying to control election outcomes: They’re taking aim at the census count. (One has to wonder – have they ever considered just having popular policies instead?)

In recent lawsuits, Republicans are attempting to increase the power of GOP-controlled states by changing how the U.S. Census Bureau counts and estimates the population. The census may not be particularly sexy, but it provides the critical numbers used to determine how many votes each state receives in the U.S. House and Representatives and also in the electoral college during presidential elections.

A Florida court this week dismissed one of the GOP’s cases*, saying the four-year statute of limitations to challenge the methods used in the 2020 census had already run out. 

But a similar case filed last week by Missouri  Republican  Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office is more alarming. It is attempting to block the federal government from including undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders in the population count. In the complaint, Hanaway argues that Missouri would have an additional seat in Congress — and one more electoral vote in presidential elections — if the population count included only U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. 

Interestingly, the argument could backfire on Republicans in a state like Texas, which could stand to lose two House seats if Missouri gets the changes it wants. Read more about the census challenges here.

*Intervening defendants are represented in the lawsuit by the Elias Law Group (ELG). ELG Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.

VOTING  

North Carolina election board flags hundreds of thousands of voters for potential disenfranchisement

NEW EPISODE 

New Epstein Files expose Trump and break MAGA

What we’re doing

This week, Democracy Docket’s Washington, D.C. and New York City teams united for our annual planning retreat, where we spent the past four days discussing how to better serve you — our loyal readers — and meet the historic moment we’re living through. As we worked out how to fill the growing gaps in democracy news coverage while legacy media outlets continue to crumble, news broke of another legacy outlet imploding: Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post was firing a third of its journalists.

It’s deeply painful for us to see a storied newspaper throw hundreds of journalists — who have dedicated their careers to ensuring that democracy doesn’t “die in darkness” — out into the cold. What can we — and you — do now? 

Unlike The Post, Democracy Docket is growing — and hiring. If you’re a laid-off WaPo employee, we have several openings at the moment. And there will likely be more coming later this year. If you want to contribute to our mission, please fill out this form to join our talent pool.

And if you’re a reader now feeling even more inspired to support independent journalism, we have a shop full of Democracy Docket merch that you can purchase to help us spread the word about what we do. Most importantly, if you aren’t already, you can become a paid subscriber and help fund our work. Thank you!