As Dems Plan To Overthrow SCOTUS And Electoral College, Red States Botch Redistricting To Avoid Looking Mean

In one corner are the Democrats, who, after being told by the Supreme Court they can’t engage in racial gerrymandering, are promising to pack the high court with left-wing activists and burn down the Electoral College once they regain control of Congress. In the other are Republicans, who, despite holding trifecta control in “red states” impacted by said SCOTUS ruling, are squandering a unique opportunity to redistrict their maps ahead of the 2026 midterms.

In Mississippi, GOP Gov. Tate Reeves abruptly canceled his late April call for a special legislative session on redistricting before this year’s fall elections. The May 20 session was “initially called to fulfill the court-ordered redistricting of Mississippi’s Supreme Court voting districts,” but notable Republicans pressed “Reeves to include Mississippi’s U.S. House voting map in the special session” to redistrict the state’s lone Democrat-run congressional district into Republican hands, according to the Mississippi Clarion Ledger.

Rather than move forward with such a proposal, Reeves axed his plans for a special session after a federal appeals court vacated the order requiring the state to redraw its Supreme Court districts. In doing so, the Republican governor — who said he expects the legislature to take up redistricting “sometime BETWEEN NOW and 2027 elections” — reportedly expressed worry that “redrawing U.S. House districts now would potentially backfire on Republicans nationwide,” according to the Ledger.

“Mississippi has already held its primaries, he said, so implementing new voting districts now would force the state to nullify its primaries and hold another round before the November elections,” the Ledger report reads. “That could establish a precedent for other states, including those led by Democrats, to cancel out their primaries and foil what he said is shaping up to be a significant gain for Republicans in the U.S. House.”

In Louisiana, the GOP-run legislature is poised to pass a new congressional map eliminating the majority-minority district at issue in the aforementioned SCOTUS case. The proposal would take the state from a four Republican-two Democrat map to a five Republican-one Democrat map.

The catch, however, is that the new map doesn’t eliminate both majority-minority districts controlled by Democrats. According to NBC News, GOP lawmakers declined to consider a proposal that would’ve achieved such an outcome.

A similar dynamic is also seemingly playing out in Alabama, which recently received a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court on the subject. Republican lawmakers seem content with using their now-available 2023 map that includes a single majority-minority district controlled by Democrats rather than draft a new map that eliminates all such districts.

It remains unclear whether South Carolina Republicans will pass a new map to redistrict longtime Democrat Rep. Jim Clyburn’s seat. Although Gov. Henry McMaster called a special session to do so, a cabal of state Senate Republicans is reportedly planning to run out the clock on the issue to prevent a new map from making it through in time for the 2026 midterms.

“I would tell my Republican friends: Republicans are stronger when the Democrat Party is vibrant and viable. We are. Competition makes you better, ya’ll,” South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, a Republican, said during a recent floor speech opposing redistricting efforts.

When in power, leftists waste no time in using every mechanism at their disposal to ram through their radical agenda and punish their political opponents. Like breathing, it comes natural to them. They focus on achieving their objectives and worry about potential public blowback later.

Too many Republicans are the exact opposite. They lack a coherent worldview, have no motivation to implement their voters’ wishes, and cower away at the earliest sign of manufactured media outrage. They further justify such weakness by pointing to “principle,” while Democrats laugh and destroy the country around them.

Right now, there’s only one side playing to win. And it’s the side threatening to pack the Supreme Court, abolish the Electoral College, and make Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico states so that Republicans are locked out of power for good.

That’s a doomsday scenario under which this nation cannot survive. If Republicans can’t find it within themselves to recognize the moment and step up, then they should get out of office and make room for people who do and will.

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Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood