President Trump is urging Mississippi officials to redraw the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

The push follows the Supreme Court’s ruling to strike down a provision of the Voting Rights Act that required majority-minority House districts.

However, redistricting before the midterms could be a challenge in Mississippi.

The Magnolia State has already conducted its congressional primaries and would have to invalidate the elections.

Mississippi Today has more:

Erasing primary results would be unprecedented, and it’s unclear if that action would survive a legal challenge. It’s also unclear if Mississippi’s three incumbent Republican congressmen would be on board with having to run again in new primaries, a costly endeavor.

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Also, further gerrymandering in the state with the highest Black population might backfire on Republicans and make Democrats more competitive.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana has amplified an already intense national redistricting battle because it rolled back protection against racial discrimination in redistricting.

The 2nd Congressional District that U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson represents is Mississippi’s only Democratic district. It’s one of the poorest areas in the nation, and it comprises most of the majority-Black Jackson metro area and most of the majority-Black Delta region.

The way state lawmakers would ensure Thompson can’t win that seat again is to dismantle it, diluting the Black vote with parts of surrounding majority-white districts. Despite having the highest percentage Black population of any state, at about 38%, Mississippi has historically had few Black elected officials, due largely to past gerrymandering and Jim Crow laws and practices.

“So, clearly, we have a fight ahead of us,” Thompson said, according to The Hill.

“Those of us who have been in this fight forever will continue to. In most of these states, Victor, nobody has said this, all of these districts were drawn by Republicans and approved by Republican legislatures,” he told CNN‘s Victor Blackwell.

“Given an opportunity left to themselves without any guardrails, white Republican elected officials would wipe out every opportunity for Black people to be elected. And so this Supreme Court issue that was decided in favor of the Black community is now being challenged by the governor with a new redistricting plan,” Thompson added.

The Hill shared further:

The 6-3 ruling by the Supreme Court stated that the new map in Louisiana was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, weakening a core provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That provision prevents election practices that deny equal access to the political process based on race. The ruling could significantly impact the provision’s usage.

Thompson said he “would not be an elected official had it not been for the Voting Rights Act,” nor would he have been a registered voter had it not been for it.

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But the ruling could jeopardize Democratic seats in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina, according to Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball, Thompson’s seat among them.

Thompson said the court’s ruling “has moved us back over 60 years, and we’re going to fight for it.”

“Look at what they’re doing in Louisiana, as you said,” he said. “They’re trying to stop the election and take representation from the Black community with no remorse at all. They just want to do it.”

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) on Thursday suspended the state’s primary and runoff elections, previously scheduled for just more than two weeks away. He and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) said in a statement that the court’s decision bars the state “from carrying out congressional elections under the current map.”

 

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