Morning Digest: Alabama GOP purposely discriminated against Black voters, court rules in redistricting case

The ruling could put the state back under federal supervision over voting rights

Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who was elected to represent Alabama’s new majority-Black 2nd Congressional District in 2024 (credit: Shomari Figures Facebook)

Leading Off

AL Redistricting

In a scathing opinion more than 570 pages long, a panel of three federal judges issued a final ruling on Thursday concluding that not only did the congressional map Alabama Republicans adopted in 2023 violate the civil rights of Black voters, but that lawmakers had also intentionally discriminated against that same group in passing their map.

The decision likely means that Alabama's congressional delegation will remain split between five Republicans and two Democrats for the rest of the decade, but a more serious consequence looms.

Because of the court's finding of deliberate discrimination, the state could be brought back under federal supervision to ensure that any future changes it makes to voting rules and procedures—which include anything from relocating a polling place to imposing new voter ID laws or redistricting plans—do not disadvantage minorities.

Most Southern states were subject to such oversight following the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 until the Supreme Court struck down that system, known as "preclearance," in 2013. However, jurisdictions that engage in intentional discrimination can be "bailed back in" to preclearance under a separate provision of the VRA that remains good law.

The judges, all originally appointed by Republicans—including two by Donald Trump—said they would "expeditiously" hold proceedings to impose final remedies, both to determine the districts that Alabama will use going forward and whether to place the state under preclearance.

It's possible, however, that the state's current map won't change at all. Plaintiffs originally challenged the congressional map that Alabama's GOP-dominated legislature passed in 2021 for its failure to include a second district where Black voters could elect their preferred candidate, as required by the VRA.

The courts ultimately agreed with them, holding that the 2021 map could not be used in last year's elections and saying it needed to be replaced by one with "two districts in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it."

Given the chance to redraw the map in 2023, though, Republican lawmakers blithely ignored the court's order. Instead, they put forth a plan featuring a second district where the Black population was just 39.9%. In racially polarized Alabama, where white voters almost always vote as a bloc to oppose the candidates preferred by Black voters, such a district blatantly failed to satisfy the VRA.

The three-judge court refused to accept that map and appointed an independent expert to draw up a new plan for use in 2024. That plan reshaped the 2nd District to ensure it would be majority-Black, just like the existing 7th District.

Consequently, the new district elected former Justice Department official Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. Since the revamped map satisfied the VRA not only in theory but also in practice, the court may simply choose to leave it in place for the rest of the decade.

But given the exigent timeframe, the unsatisfactory 2023 map was originally blocked on a temporary basis. In February, however, the court held a full trial on the merits of the plaintiffs' claims that lasted 11 days and presented their final conclusions in Thursday's lengthy opinion.

The most striking finding was the judges' determination that the legislature had engaged in intentional discrimination when it disregarded their order and passed an unacceptable map in 2023. They noted that such a determination was "unusual," but given the extensive evidence, they said it was not "a particularly close call."

"On the rare occasion that federal law directs federal courts to intrude in a process ordinarily reserved for state politics," such as redistricting, the judges wrote, "there is nothing customary or appropriate about a state legislature's deliberate decision to ignore, evade, and strategically frustrate requirements spelled out in a court order."

The judges went one step further, saying that the legislature had "raised the stakes of this litigation well beyond redistricting." Nodding to the current legal environment, they warned that "decisions to ignore court orders are intolerable in our system of ordered liberty even when they are undertaken in unassailable good faith and for purely 'righteous' purposes."

The state, however, behaved in a way that was anything but righteous, the court noted.

"It would be shocking for us to hold that a state legislature that intentionally ignored a federal court order for the purpose of (again) diluting minority votes acted in good faith," the judges wrote, offering a possible clue about how they might rule on the pending question of preclearance.

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Democracy prevails in North Carolina

Senate

GA-Sen

Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter announced Thursday that he would challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, which makes him the first prominent Republican to enter what could be a busy primary.

Carter, whose kickoff came just three days after Gov. Brian Kemp took his name out of contention, began his campaign with what his team tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is a $2.3 million opening TV buy. The inaugural ad touts him as "MAGA warrior" for Donald Trump, who carried Georgia by a small 51-48 margin last year after narrowly losing the state in 2024.

Morning Digest: With their top Georgia recruit out, the GOP's afraid MTG will run for Senate

Peach State viewers could see much more from Carter before long. His camp informs reporter Greg Bluestein that the candidate, who owned several pharmacies when he was elected to represent the Georgia coast in 2014, plans to do at least eight figures' worth of self-funding.

Carter—who is not related to the late President Jimmy Carter—has never struggled to hold onto his safely red seat, and he hasn't generated much attention during most of his tenure. However, he sought to change that in February when he introduced a bill to allow the Trump administration to purchase Greenland from Denmark and rename it "Red, White and Blueland."

IL-Sen

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton received an endorsement on Wednesday from former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, whose 1992 victory made her both the first Black woman and first African American Democrat to ever serve in the upper chamber.

Braun, who lost reelection six years later, called Stratton a "fierce and compassionate leader" and noted that she'd be only the second Black woman to represent Illinois in the Senate.

Morning Digest: First major Democrat launches Illinois Senate bid, attacking Washington's 'old playbook'

Stratton faces Rep. Robin Kelly, who would also achieve that distinction, in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin. Rep. Lauren Underwood, who could be the third Black woman in the race, has not yet announced whether she'll also launch her long-anticipated campaign. She told CNN on Tuesday, "I don't have an answer today," but added, "I am certainly taking a look."

The field also includes Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who would be the state's first Indian American senator.

Governors

KS-Gov

Financial services executive Philip Sarnecki is considering seeking the Republican nomination for governor of Kansas, the Sunflower State Journal's Brad Cooper reports. Cooper writes that his sources say Sarnecki may take several months to decide whether he'll run to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, with a launch possible in September.

NY-Gov

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik seems to be in absolutely no hurry to make up her mind about a possible bid for governor, Jimmy Vielkind writes in Gothamist.

Vielkind's sources say that Stefanik "can wait to see" how New York City's mayoral race shakes out in November, as well as how the rest of Trump's first year back in office goes, before deciding. Rep. Mike Lawler, who is also considering seeking the GOP nod for the right to take on Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, has repeatedly said he'll decide in June.

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House

GA-01

Republican Rep. Buddy Carter's decision to run for Senate (see our GA-Sen item above) means that there will be an open-seat race to succeed the six-term congressman in the 1st District, which includes Savannah and other communities on or near the Georgia coast.

Donald Trump carried this constituency 58-42, according to numbers from The Downballot, so the GOP will be favored to keep it, though it could be a long-shot Democratic target in a blue wave year.

Republicans have held this seat since Jack Kingston first flipped it in 1992. Kingston, who had the honor of being both the first and last guest on Stephen Colbert's "Better Know A District" segment, left to wage an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 2014, and Carter was elected to replace him.

Far-right media personality Kandiss Taylor previously launched a bid in February, before Carter announced he would be seeking a promotion. However, while Taylor's predilections for far-right conspiracy theories and antisemitism have helped her gain a following, she didn't report raising any money through March.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution mentions two better-established Republicans as possible candidates: state Rep. James Burchett, who is the party's majority whip, and insurance executive Jim Kingston, the son of the former congressman.

Georgia, like many other Southern states, requires primary candidates to win a majority of the vote to avoid a runoff.

IA-03

State House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst announced Thursday that she was joining the Democratic primary to take on Republican Rep. Zach Nunn. Konfrst, who also said she would step down from her leadership post, launched her campaign to flip Iowa's swingy 3rd District three days after state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott became the first Democrat to enter the race.

Konfrst, a teacher at Drake University's journalism school, waged a high-profile but unsuccessful campaign to unseat state House Majority Leader Chris Hagenow in the Des Moines suburbs in 2016. Soon after her narrow loss, she said she'd try again, but Hagenow didn't want to go through a rematch.

The Republican incumbent instead announced he would run in a more conservative district well to the north, a move he insisted he was only making to be closer to his children's school. Skeptics, though, argued that Hagenow wanted to avoid the backlash against Donald Trump that was brewing in the suburbs.

Konfrst decisively won the open-seat race to replace her former opponent, and she's had no trouble holding her once-competitive constituency ever since.

MI-11

State Sen. Jeremy Moss on Thursday became the first notable candidate to announce a campaign to succeed Rep. Haley Stevens, a fellow Democrat who is running for the Senate, in Michigan's safely blue 11th District. Moss, whose 2018 victory made him the state's first openly gay state senator, would be the state's first LGBTQ member of Congress.

Moss, whose position as president pro tempore makes him part of Democratic leadership, attracted attention earlier this year after Republican state Rep. Josh Schriver called for the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its landmark 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. Moss attended Schriver's press conference and took questions from journalists after the Republican declined to.

Moss lives in Southfield, a suburban Detroit community located just outside the 11th District, and began his electoral career in 2011 as a member of the city council. As part of his launch, he highlighted the fact that he already represents a portion of Stevens' constituents. (Data from The Downballot shows that just under 20% of the 11th Congressional District's denizens also live in Moss' 7th Senate District.) The Detroit Free Press writes that he's "expected to move" into the 11th.

WI Redistricting

A group of voters in Wisconsin has filed a new challenge to the state's congressional districts before the state Supreme Court, arguing that the Republican-drawn map violates the state constitution as a partisan gerrymander.

Under the current lines, Republicans hold six of the state's eight districts even though Wisconsin is a perennial swing state that has been decided by less than a single percentage point in five of the seven presidential elections this century. Last year, the court rejected a separate challenge to the map that was brought on different grounds, though it did not explain why.

Attorneys General

VA-AG

Former Del. Jay Jones earned an endorsement Thursday from longtime Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, news that came just days after Jones launched the first TV ad of the June 17 Democratic primary for attorney general. Jones pledged in his opening message to "fight Trump and Musk in court" and touted his support from former Govs. Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam.

Jones faces Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor in the contest to take on Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares. He's enjoyed a big fundraising advantage and finished March with a $1.5 million to $700,000 cash lead.

But while Taylor hasn't won the kind of high-profile endorsements her opponent has, she still has one big ally in her corner. The Virginia Scope's Brandon Jarvis reported last month that the utility giant Dominion Energy had donated $50,000 to Taylor's campaign in the first quarter of the year.

Clean Virginia, a well-funded environmental group that often opposes Dominion-backed candidates in Democratic primaries, meanwhile gave Jones $25,000. There are no campaign finance limits in Virginia, so both entities can throw down much more if they see fit.

Miyares, for his part, finished March with $2.1 million in the bank and does not need to spend it on a primary.

Morning Digest: Don't sleep on these two major races happening in Virginia this year

Legislatures

MS Redistricting

A federal court has approved a new map for the Mississippi Senate after previously greenlighting revised districts for the state House last month. The maps were challenged by the NAACP, which successfully argued that they discriminated against Black voters, though the organization has not yet said whether it might appeal the ruling.

Should the new maps stand, special elections will be held in any revamped districts later this year. They're unlikely to affect partisan control of either chamber of the legislature, both of which are dominated by the GOP, but should lead to increased Black representation.

Mayors & County Leaders

Detroit, MI Mayor

A new poll shows Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield taking first place with 32% of the vote in the busy Aug. 5 nonpartisan primary to succeed outgoing Mayor Mike Duggan.

Pollster Target Insyght also finds pastor Solomon Kinloch with a 25-19 advantage over former police chief James Craig, a rare high-profile Republican in this heavily Democratic city, for the second spot in the Nov. 4 general election.

Former City Council President Saunteel Jenkins is a distant fourth place with 7%, while the other five candidates trail behind her. Target Insyght tells The Downballot that it did not have a client for this poll.

This is the first survey we've seen since February, when the field for the first open-seat race for mayor in 12 years was still taking shape. Duggan, who first won in 2013, announced last year he wouldn't seek a fourth term and later said he was leaving the Democratic Party to run for governor of Michigan as an independent.

After candidate filing closed last month, election officials confirmed that all nine contenders turned in enough signatures to make the ballot. This was welcome news for James, whose 2022 campaign for governor collapsed after officials disqualified him and four other Republican hopefuls after they fell victim to a fraudulent signature scandal and failed to turn in enough valid petitions.

New York, NY Mayor

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's many struggles to adhere to New York City's strict campaign finance laws are now the subject of an in-depth look by Politico.

Cuomo's highest-profile stumble occurred last month when the city's Campaign Finance Board denied him $2.5 million in public financing after he failed to provide necessary information about his donors. The next round of public funds is set to be distributed on Monday, though his team insists he'll pass muster this time.

Meanwhile, a pro-Cuomo group called Fix the City has been spending millions to get his message out ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary for mayor. However, the ex-governor learned the hard way this week that a super PAC can't do everything his campaign should be doing.

The CFB informed every campaign on Monday that rules it adopted last year prohibit super PACs from using "strategic information or data related to the candidate" in such a way that the candidate "knew or should have known would facilitate the spender's use of the information." The letter came shortly after Politico reported that a hard-to-find section of Cuomo's website featured a "Message for Voters" that contained talking points and videos.

This tactic, known as "red-boxing" because the information is often placed in a red box so it can't be missed, has evaded any crackdown in federal elections, but the CFB said it's not permitted in city contests. Cuomo's campaign claimed that the CFB informed them that its letter wasn't targeted at them, but the "Message for Voters" was no longer there by Thursday morning.

Politico's piece also documents several more mistakes from Cuomo's team, including, but not limited to, his fundraising report confusing "a documentarian who bundled checks for the frontrunner with a nursing home fraudster of the same name."

Despite all these blunders, though, no one is disputing that Cuomo does indeed remain the frontrunner heading into next month's primary. One reason is that Fix the City continues to dominate the airwaves. AdImpact reports that the $5.9 million it has spent or reserved represents 80% of all total ad spending.

But while the PAC faced virtually no competition as recently as a month ago, Cuomo's opponents are starting to get their message out. City Comptroller Brad Lander this week became the latest to join the fray, launching what AdImpact says is a $720,000 buy, and his first ad castigates Cuomo as "corrupt." The narrator also praises Lander, who is shown using a junkyard compactor to crush a Tesla, for standing up to Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, according to AdImpact, has also spent or booked a comparable $710,000. The only other person on the air is Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who has deployed $550,000 on ads.

Voting Rights & Election Law

New York

A mid-level state appeals court in New York upheld a state law on Wednesday that would move elections for county and town governments from odd-numbered to even-numbered years.

The unanimous ruling by the five-judge panel overturned a lower court decision last year that determined the law violated the state constitution. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, a Republican who is one of the plaintiffs, said he would appeal to the New York Court of Appeals, which is the state's highest judicial body.

The law, which the Democratic-run state legislature passed in 2023, would impact races for county executive and county legislature, as well as for similar posts at the town level. It does not, however, cover races in New York City, which holds its mayoral race this year, or many other local races.

The new plan is set to take effect in 2026, so contests like this year's race for Nassau County executive will take place this fall regardless of what happens. McMahon will also be up for reelection in 2027, but if the law stands, he'd be up for an abbreviated three-year term to realign the calendar.

Due to an editing error we incorrectly identified Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. His campaign is spending $550,000 on advertising, according to AdImpact. State Sen. Zellnor Myrie is spending $710,000.