Democrats are ready to play hardball after a stunning series of redistricting losses that could kneecap the party’s power in Congress for years to come.
“We’re going to win in November, and then we’re going to crush their souls as it relates to the extremism that they are trying to unleash on the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Wednesday.
Jeffries will hold a caucus-wide meeting Thursday morning with House Administration’s top Democrat Joe Morelle to discuss next steps on the party’s election security strategy.
The mid-decade map redrawing war marks a reversal from years of high-minded Democratic rhetoric that included advocating for independent redistricting commissions, campaign finance curbs and more. Democratic leaders are now openly discussing overriding those safeguards as Republicans use the courts and their control of state governments to consolidate and enhance their own party’s power.
Democrats’ call to action comes after the Supreme Court’s April decision to slash the Voting Rights Act, kicking off a GOP mad dash to crack majority Black, safe Democratic seats in the South. The Virginia Supreme Court’s rejection of a map last week that would’ve given Dems four new seats this year dealt another blow.
Jeffries and fellow Democratic leaders laid out an ambitious plan this week to redistrict before the 2028 elections in states like New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon and Washington where their party currently holds power but cannot immediately redraw House lines.
But opportunities to redistrict in 2026 are running dry for the party, except for a potential last-ditch pick-up in Maryland, where Democrats want to eliminate Rep. Andy Harris’ district even with the state’s primary two weeks away and mail-in ballots already issued.
Prominent Democrats are heavily pressuring state Senate President Bill Ferguson to move for a map redraw now after preventing the party from trying to draw an 8-0 map months ago, Gregory Svirnovskiy reports. Ferguson’s spokesperson Wednesday said the leader told Maryland’s governor he’s “open to a conversation about next steps.”
“At this point, the Republicans are literally doing everything in their power to create all Republican congressional delegations in the South and to squeeze out every possible seat,” Rep. Jamie Raskin told POLITICO in an interview. “So if [Ferguson’s] initial position was that he didn’t want to be part of continuing a downward spiral, that consideration should be gone.”
The party’s anger also translates to a growing appetite to remake the Supreme Court, which many House Democrats say is ushering in an era of “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Rep. Johnny Olszewski, who has introduced legislation to term-limit the justices, said in an interview that the VRA ruling was “a straw that broke the camel’s back.” And Rep. Sean Casten said there are tools to “kneecap” the Supreme Court that Congress has never used, such as stripping their power to review lower court rulings.
“I think everybody from the top of our caucus to the bottom are saying we have got to push back on them,” Casten said.
— SURVEY SAYS: Separately, new results from a POLITICO Poll show many Democratic voters want their party leaders to fight back hard — even if it means breaking up districts designed to protect the power of Black voters and other minority communities. Read the results here.
What else we’re watching:
— SENATE GOP COOL ON SUMMER RECONCILIATION 3.0 PLAN: Senate Republicans aren’t sold yet on their House counterparts’ plan to finish a third party-line spending package before summer recess. “We’re still working on reconciliation 2.0,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday when asked if his chamber was also planning a pre-recess timeline for a third bill.
— HOUSING BILL COMES TO HOUSE FLOOR: House GOP leadership is planning to put an amended housing bill up for a fast-track floor vote next week, despite President Donald Trump’s calls for the chamber to pass the Senate’s version as-is. Senior House lawmakers late Wednesday reached a bipartisan deal and released bill text. The final House text would maintain restrictions on Wall Street’s purchase of single-family homes — a priority for Trump — but would significantly scale back the Senate bill’s limitations on so-called institutional investors in the housing market.
Riley Rogerson, Andrew Howard, Erin Doherty, Jordain Carney, Kelsey Brugger, Katherine Hapgood and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
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