Catch this! Two-hundred thirty-eight years ago…Patrick Henry, a prominent Anti-Federalist and member of the Virginia House of Delegates, famously attempted to gerrymander James Madison out of the first U.S. Congress in 1788-1789. Henry, who feared a strong federal government, drew a 5th District that packed Madison’s home county with anti- federalist areas to ensure a defeat. Henry hoped to prevent Madison—the “Father of the Constitution”—from joining Congress, specifically to block the adoption of the Bill of Rights and force a second constitutional convention.

Henry’s ploy was eventually unsuccessful, but what is crucial to note is that all these 238 years later, this vile, despicable election-rigging contrivance of gerrymandering (before it was named that) is still hard at work, bollixing up the opportunity to hold fair elections.

Here we are in May 2026. Under normal circumstances, the United States would be five years from the next decennial census and subsequent reapportionment of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives.

So, redistricting work had been minimal…

…until President Donald Trump encouraged Texas governor Greg Abbott to redistrict his state. With the clever use of gerrymandering by this fuzzy orange creep, Abbott rigged elections for November’s midterms to grow the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. And…crucial to realize…before a single vote had been cast.

To blunt Abbott’s ploy, California Governor Gavin Newsome called a special election to do the same. California Proposition 50 — the Election Rigging Response Act — amended the California constitution in a special election ballot on November 4, 2025. It adopted a temporary congressional district map for 2026 to 2030. In 2031, the usual once-per- decade redistricting process will return based on the latest Census data.

Not to be left behind, in October 2025, North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature drew and approved new congressional districts in their own a mid-decade redistricting effort. The move, which did not require gubernatorial or citizen approval, was initiated to gain an additional seat for the GOP in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Before …

and after …

How did that happen? NC Senate Redistricting Chair Ralph Hise tells us in precise terms: “President Trump has called on Republican-controlled states across the country to redraw congressional districts. The motivation behind this redraw is simple and singular. Draw a new map that will bring an additional Republican seat to the North Carolina congressional delegation. The new congressional map improves Republican critical strength in eastern North Carolina. It moves NC district one from a district where President Trump earned 51% of the vote in 2024 to 55% of the vote, an increase of four points.”

Unlike previous cycles that included extensive in-person hearings, the legislature held only three, none in the affected districts. A digital portal saw some 12,000 comments, but most were dismissed. Republican House Speaker Destin Hall noted he saw a “few” comments and disagreed with them, dismissing them as “folks on the left”.

Despite public outcry and protests in the Senate gallery, the General Assembly passed the new congressional map (S 249) on October 22, 2025. And, just like that…poof…the Republican-controlled body used their veto-proof majority to turn a Democratic plus-3 majority Black district…into a plus-4 Republican district. In doing so, they effectively “drew” incumbent Black congressman Don Davis out of office.

A recent survey found that 84% of North Carolina voters say it’s never acceptable for politicians to draw districts to help their own party win more seats, no matter the circumstances. Heading into 2026, that opposition holds across party lines, including 78% of Republicans, 87% of Democrats and 85% of unaffiliated voters.

Fast forward to Wednesday, April 29, 2026 when the U.S. Supreme Court’s ultra-conservative majority handed down a ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. It eviscerated the federally protected right of communities of color to have fair voting districts where they can elect candidates of their choice.

The Court’s six-to-three Republican-appointed majority issued a staggering ruling on essentially killing the remaining protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, dealing a death blow to the country’s most important civil rights law. The majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito in Louisiana v. Callais strikes down the creation of a second majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana, and in so doing narrows Section 2 of the VRA to the point of irrelevance, making it nearly impossible to: 1) prove that a gerrymandered map violates the right of voters of color; and 2) will similarly make it nearly impossible for states to draw majority-minority districts.

This result has nationwide ramifications, with serious consequences for states throughout the South, and supercharges a new era of hyper-partisan gerrymandering.

While claiming it leaves the protections in Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act intact, the Court gives states with long histories of racial discrimination a green light to dilute the voting power of people of color by drawing electoral districts that minimize their representation and silence their voices.

The decision invalidates one of the last remaining protections in the federal Voting Rights Act, that for generations, had protected against racially discriminatory maps.

Unsurprisingly, the decision sparked a rush in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia to redistrict before primary elections began. All new maps are designed to increase Republican seats. Most wipe out former majority-minority opportunities making it impossible for Black incumbents or candidates to win.

It’s impossible to miss the openly racist intent.

Justice Elaine Kagan pulled no punches in her dissent: “Today’s decision renders Section 2 all but a dead letter. In the States still marked by residential segregation and racially polarized voting, minority voters can now be cracked out of the electoral process.”

It never stops, does it! A crack left in the governing frame of our democracy continues to tear our land apart 233 years later. Can we not rid ourselves of this rat?