Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves canceled a special legislative session on redistricting on Wednesday, citing a favorable federal appeals court ruling that eliminated the immediate need to redraw state Supreme Court districts.
But the Republican governor made clear that congressional map changes — including potential moves to reshape or eliminate the majority-Black 2nd District long held by Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson — remain firmly on the table for action
The cancellation of the May 20 session came one day after the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower court order that had found Mississippi’s Supreme Court districts violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voting power.
Reeves, speaking on SuperTalk Mississippi radio, called the judicial redraw unnecessary but stressed congressional reform is “not a question of if. It’s a question of when.”
The developments in Mississippi reflect a broader redistricting surge across the South, triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais.
In that 6-3 ruling, the high court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, sharply limiting how race can be used as the predominant factor in drawing districts under the Voting Rights Act.
The decision has given Republican-led legislatures new legal breathing room to scrap race-based maps that packed minority voters into a handful of districts — a practice critics long argued diluted conservative votes elsewhere and artificially boosted Democratic representation in the U.S. House.
In South Carolina, GOP lawmakers are pressing ahead despite a procedural setback.
On Tuesday, the state Senate fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to extend the regular session and take up congressional redistricting, voting 29-17 against the measure.
Five Republicans joined Democrats in opposition.
The move would have allowed lawmakers to redraw maps targeting the state’s lone Democratic-held seat — the majority-Black 6th District represented by Rep. Jim Clyburn since 1993 — potentially creating seven Republican-leaning districts.
Gov. Henry McMaster has urged the General Assembly to act before its session ends this week and has not ruled out calling a special session himself, possibly as early as next week.
The push comes amid direct encouragement from President Donald Trump and national Republican leaders eager to secure the House majority in the 2026 midterms.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp took a restrained approach, announcing last week that the state will not redraw congressional or legislative maps for the 2026 cycle because early voting is already underway.
However, Kemp said he will call a special legislative session beginning June 17 to address maps for the 2028 elections.
The move makes Georgia the first state to explicitly target the next full cycle in response to the Callais ruling.
Analysts project the changes could strengthen the GOP’s current 9-5 House edge in the state, potentially expanding it further by drawing more competitive, non-racial districts.
The Southern redistricting push extends beyond these three states.
Tennessee Republicans already approved a new congressional map in special session that threatens the state’s lone Democratic district centered in Memphis.
Louisiana lawmakers are advancing plans to eliminate one of its two majority-Black seats.
Alabama continues work in special session on its maps, while Florida and others monitor opportunities to maximize GOP gains.
Virginia’s state Supreme Court recently overturned maps there, adding to the churn.
For conservatives, the flurry of activity represents a long-overdue correction.
Decades of court-mandated and activist-driven racial gerrymandering had forced states to prioritize skin color over traditional criteria, creating oddly shaped districts that concentrated Democratic voters — often Black voters — into safe seats while wasting Republican strength in the suburbs and rural areas.
The Supreme Court’s recent rulings, including Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP in 2024 and now Callais, have reaffirmed that race cannot predominate over other factors.
Democrats have denounced the efforts as “power grabs” and “voter suppression,” with some civil rights groups vowing lawsuits.
Yet Republican leaders counter that they are simply complying with the Constitution and the high court’s clear guidance: draw fair, compact maps based on population and geography, not engineered racial outcomes.
With control of most Southern legislatures and governorships, and the legal wind at their backs, GOP officials say the result will be more representative districts that better reflect the conservative tilt of these states.
