US Politics
Mike Johnson shrugs off Black voters’ concerns about GOP gerrymandering: ‘This brings back fairness’
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House Speaker Mike Johnson said that attempts to redraw his home state of Louisiana’s congressional lines, which could give Republicans an advantage at the risk of depriving Black voters of representation, was about fairness.
In conversation with Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday, Johnson was asked what his message was to Black Americans after the Supreme Court delivered a severe blow to the Voting Rights Act.
“The Supreme Court issued a long-awaited opinion, and I think it was long overdue, and they stated the obvious, that drawing congressional lines must be fair,” Johnson said. “You cannot draw lines on the basis of race, and that’s what was done in Louisiana.”
Last month, the Supreme Court handed down Louisiana v Callais, which called the state’s inclusion of a second majority-Black congressional district an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”
The ruling all but killed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law that prohibited laws that discriminate on the basis of race.
Already, not only has Louisiana begun the process to redraw its congressional map, but Tennessee broke up its majority-Black 9th district to create a more Republican-friendly map. Rep. Steve Cohen, whom despite being white represented the 9th district for 20 years, announced on Friday that he would not seek re-election.
In addition, the Supreme Court allowed Alabama to redraw its congressional map after it had been prohibited by a court order from redrawing its map until 2030.
And Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a new congressional map just hours after the Supreme Court announced Callais. Gov. Ron DeSantis would sign the maps into law later.
Black voters in the South have feared that this will deny their ability to be equally represented in Congress.
But Johnson did not address the concerns of Black voters.
“So, they declared it to be an unconstitutional gerrymander, and it was,” Johnson said. “This brings back fairness and certainty this to the system, and I think a lot of states are looking to make sure that their maps are not unconstitutional, like Louisiana’s was.”
Johnson and President Donald Trump have pushed for states with Republican-controlled legislatures and governors to redraw their congressional maps to give them an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections and avoid losing their slim majority in the House of Representatives.
South Carolina’s legislature initially rebuffed an attempt to redraw the 6th district, which Democratic Rep. James Clyburn holds. But Gov. Henry McMaster announced the legislature would meet again to try again.
Johnson was on hand in Washington to take part in the a national day of prayer and thanksgiving to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
