AOC calls for more Democrat-leaning states to redraw election maps after Supreme Court ruling and GOP push

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) suggested that Democratic-leaning states respond to Republican efforts to gerrymander their congressional maps by doing the same.

Ocasio-Cortez, the democratic socialist congresswoman, made the comments after the Supreme Court significantly weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“The Democratic caucus has tried to pass nonpartisan gerrymandering for ten years,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Independent. “Republicans have rejected it, and so we have to all abide by the same rules.”

Section 2 specifically prohibits states and localities from using “any voting standard, practice, or procedure that results in the denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.”

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court announced that Louisiana relied to heavily on race when it redrew its congressional map in 2024.

That essentially opens the door to Republican-leaning states to redraw their congressional maps to expand the number of Republicans without fear of violating the Voting Rights Act.

Already, Texas and North Carolina have redrawn their congressional maps at the request of President Donald Trump. Republicans hope that by redrawing their congressional maps in the middle of the decade, they can avoid losing the majority in the House of Representatives.

“And so if Republicans are going to redraw North Carolina, if they're going to redraw Texas, if they're going to redraw and gerrymander every one of their states, then unfortunately, we have to provide balance to that until we get to the day where we can all finally agree to put this behind us and pass nonpartisan gerrymandering federally,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

In addition to Texas and North Carolina, Republicans have attempted to redraw the congressional maps in states like Missouri, though a Trump-backed effort to do so in Indiana failed.

But the efforts is not stopping. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis called a new session of the Republican-controlled legislature to redraw the congressional map and create four new Republican-leaning districts.

In response, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he would challenge the effort.

“While Democrats have given voters the choice whether or not to respond to Donald Trump’s mid-decade gerrymandering scheme at the ballot box, Republicans are drawing maps behind closed doors in the dead of night,” Jeffries said in a statement earlier this week. “The DeSantis Dummymander will not stand. See you in Court.”

Historically, Democrats have supported nonpartisan redistricting. But Republican efforts have prompted them to support temporary gerrymandering in states that have nonpartisan redistricting boards.

In November, California voted on a ballot measure to add five new Democratic-leaning seats in response to Texas, while last week, Virginia did a similar measure.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies