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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — <\/span>A national redistricting battle over U.S. House seats swung toward Republicans on Friday, as a Virginia court invalidated<\/a> a Democratic gerrymandering effort and Republicans in Alabama approved plans for new primary elections if courts allow GOP-drawn House districts to be used in the November midterm elections. <\/p>\n The Alabama legislation, which was signed quickly into law by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, is part of an effort by Republicans in Southern states to capitalize on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling<\/a> that significantly weakened Voting Rights Act protections for minorities. <\/p>\n At the Alabama Statehouse, a chaotic scene erupted as one protester was dragged from the packed House gallery by security officers. Republican lawmakers in Louisiana and South Carolina also faced staunch opposition from civil rights activists and Democrats as they presented plans Friday to redraw their congressional districts. <\/p>\n The action came just a day after Tennessee enacted<\/a> new congressional districts that carve up a Democratic-held, Black-majority district in Memphis. The state Democratic Party sued on Friday, seeking to prevent the districts from being used until after this year’s elections because of the tight time frame<\/p>\n Even before last week’s Supreme Court ruling in a Louisiana case, Republicans and Democrats already were engaged in a fierce redistricting battle<\/a>, each seeking an edge in the midterm elections that will determine control of the closely divided House. That battle tilted further toward Republicans when the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday that Democratic lawmakers had violated constitutional requirements when placing a redistricting amendment on the ballot. <\/p>\n Since President Donald Trump prodded Texas to redraw its congressional districts last summer, Republicans think they could gain as many as 14 seats from new districts in several states while Democrats think they could gain up to six seats. But the parties may not get everything they sought, because the gerrymandering<\/a> could backfire in some highly competitive districts. <\/p>\n Demonstrators outside the Alabama Statehouse on Friday shouted \u201cfight for democracy\u201d and \u201cdown with white supremacy.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI was out there in 1965 marching for the right to vote, and now we are back here in 2026 doing the same thing,\u201d Betty White Boynton said.<\/p>\n During debate inside the statehouse, Black lawmakers said the Republican legislation harks back to the state\u2019s shameful Jim Crow history. The new law would ignore the May 19 primary results for some congressional seats and direct the governor to schedule a new primary under revised districts, if a court allows it. Lawmakers also approved a similar bill related to state Senate districts.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened here today is that we were set back as a people to the days of Reconstruction,\u201d Democratic state Sen. Rodger Smitherman said after the vote.<\/p>\n Senate Democrats shouted \u201chell no\u201d and \u201cstop the steal\u201d as senators voted. <\/p>\n The special primary would happen only if the courts agree to lift an injunction that put a court-selected map in place until after the 2030 census. That order required a second district where Black voters are the majority or close to it, resulting in the 2024 election of Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who is Black. If a court lifts the injunction, Republican officials want to put in place a map lawmakers drew in 2023 \u2014 which was rejected by a federal court<\/a> \u2014 that could allow them to reclaim Figures\u2019 district. <\/p>\n \u201cWith this special session successfully behind us, Alabama now stands ready to quickly act, should the courts issue favorable rulings in our ongoing redistricting cases,\u201d Ivey said in a statement.<\/p>\n On Friday evening, however, a three-judge panel rejected Alabama\u2019s request to lift their injunction and pave the way for changing maps. The request remains pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n Democrats had hoped to gain as many as four additional U.S. House seats under new districts narrowly approved<\/a> by voters in April. But the state Supreme Court invalidated the measure because it said the Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements. <\/p>\n To place a constitutional amendment before voters, the Virginia Constitution requires lawmakers to approve it in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between. The legislature\u2019s initial approval of the redistricting amendment occurred last October \u2014 while early voting was underway but before it concluded for the general election. The legislature\u2019s second vote on the amendment<\/a> occurred after a new legislative session began in January. <\/p>\n The state Supreme Court said the initial legislative approval came too late, noting that more than 1.3 million ballots already had been cast, about 40% of the total votes ultimately cast.<\/p>\n A Louisiana Senate committee considered several redistricting options Friday from Republican state Sen. John \u201cJay\u201d Morris that would eliminate either both or one of the current Black-majority U.S. House districts. <\/p>\n \u201cEvery one of these maps reduces Black voting power in every one of the districts. And I think that\u2019s a problem,\u201d Democratic state Sen. Sam Jenkins told Morris.<\/p>\n Morris denied that the proposed redistricting maps were racially discriminatory. He said his goal was to be \u201crespectful of the traditional boundaries\u201d of the state\u2019s six congressional districts.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we should care that much about race,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n The only four Black congressmen who have represented Louisiana since the end of the Reconstruction era appealed to state senators to keep two majority-Black districts in a state where one-third of voters are Black.<\/p>\n Leona Tate said she was escorted as a 6-year-old girl by federal marshals through a racist white mob trying to prevent her from desegregating a New Orleans elementary school. She told lawmakers she felt they were taking a step backward in time by reducing Black political power.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a choice in front of you: You can draw a map that reflects what Louisiana actually is — a state where Black voices belong in the halls of Congress,\u201d said Tate, 71. \u201cOr you can draw a map that tells my grandchildren that their votes don\u2019t count, that their faces don\u2019t matter and that the progress I helped build with my own two feet as a 6-year-old can be erased at will.\u201d<\/p>\n South Carolina lawmakers held a rare Friday meeting to discuss a proposed new congressional map intended to allow Republicans a clean sweep of the state\u2019s seven U.S. House seats. <\/p>\n The House hearing was the first step in redistricting. But its future remains murky. The state Senate has yet to agree to consider new districts later this month, an action that requires a two-thirds vote.<\/p>\n The new map has some Republicans nervous. Breaking up the 6th District, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, makes the other six districts less Republican.<\/p>\n At Friday\u2019s subcommittee meeting, lawmakers heard hours of testimony, almost all against the new map. The hearing included a consultant who reviewed the map, saying it appeared to be legal under the Supreme Court’s decision in the Louisiana case.<\/p>\n \u201cI agree if the law allows us to do it, then we can do It,\u201d Democratic state Rep. Justin Bamberg said. \u201cBut I can slap somebody\u2019s mama and it\u2019s not the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Some absentee ballots already have been returned for the state’s June 9 primary elections. The legislative subcommittee advanced a plan to delay the congressional primary to August and reopen a candidate filing period, if a new map is approved.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina; Brook from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Lieb from Jefferson City, Missouri. AP reporter Travis Loller contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n