Georgia's Republican-led Legislature will convene June 17 for a special session focused on redistricting for the 2028 elections, marking a new phase in a national battle over partisan control that could affect representation on everything from tax rates to social safety net programs, teacher salaries and local road repairs.

The agenda includes new voting districts not only for Congress but also for the state House and Senate — and potentially even the state's utility regulatory commission. It will mark the first time since a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakened minority voting protections that a state legislature will attempt to redraw its own districts. Mississippi Republicans and New York Democrats could also undertake legislative redistricting before their 2027 and 2028 elections, respectively.

The shift comes after a blitz of congressional redistricting ahead of the midterm elections. Last summer, President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw congressional districts to try to win additional seats in the midterm elections. Other states followed with their own partisan gerrymandering.

Then a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in late April jumpstarted even more redistricting. The court struck down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana as an illegal racial gerrymander, providing grounds for Republicans in other states to reshape districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

What the Right Is Saying

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp called lawmakers into special session after the Supreme Court's Louisiana decision, which could allow Republicans to undo court-ordered changes they made in 2023 following the federal judge's finding of discriminatory districts. The Legislature quickly approved revised maps with new majority-Black districts that resulted in little change to Republican majorities in the 2024 elections.

Republicans have yet to unveil details of their plans for the June session. Supporters of redistricting efforts argue that states should have flexibility in drawing district lines and that courts should not impose minority-majority districts they consider gerrymandered based on race.

In Alabama, a federal appeals court is allowing the state to use a state Senate map approved by Republican lawmakers instead of one imposed by a federal judge who found the state had diluted Black residents' voting power. The change affects two state Senate districts in the Montgomery area — a development Republicans point to as vindication of their legal approach.

What the Left Is Saying

Democratic state Rep. Tanya Miller, who is running for attorney general, denounced Georgia's upcoming redistricting as a means of "rigging maps to maintain power." A federal judge ruled in 2023 that some of Georgia's congressional, state Senate and state House districts were drawn in a racially discriminatory manner.

Joe Kennedy III, founder of Groundwork Project, a nonprofit that supports local civil rights and democracy organizations, said the impact extends beyond politics. "The stakes here are not political, they are deeply human," Kennedy said.

Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, told The Associated Press that a report his organization issued with Fair Fight Action was an understatement of potential harm. That report forecast Republicans in 10 Southern states could eliminate 191 Democratic-held legislative seats, including 140 districts with Black or Hispanic majorities, if the Supreme Court gutted federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities. "What's at stake is the future of this democracy," Albright said.

Kareem Crayton, vice president of the Washington office of the Brennan Center for Justice, said the precedent from the recent Supreme Court decision already is being applied in several states. "We're going to potentially see a lot of frenzied efforts at every level, including at the local level, to try out undoing district maps and configurations that have performed quite well in providing improved representation for communities of color," Crayton said.

What the Numbers Show

The Supreme Court decision already is affecting local governments beyond legislatures. Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed a challenge to commission districts in Meriwether County, Georgia. A federal court has accepted new legal briefs in a challenge to Board of Supervisors districts in DeSoto County, Mississippi.

Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University who runs the "All About Redistricting" website, said about half the states have provisions in their constitutions prohibiting mid-decade redistricting of state legislative seats. However, he noted that even where allowed, lawmakers may have fewer reasons to redraw their own districts than those for Congress.

Over roughly the past four decades, data from the University of Michigan shows that cities, counties and school boards have been involved in more than three-fifths of the 466 lawsuits alleging violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which forbids providing minorities less opportunity than other voters to elect representatives of their choice. The Supreme Court decision cleared the way for officials to justify redistricting based on partisan ambitions.

Politicians who promoted congressional redistricting for the 2026 midterms justified it as a way to counter gerrymandering in other states and win seats for their party, with extra motivation because a swing of only a few seats could affect control of the closely divided U.S. House. By contrast, most state legislative chambers already are dominated by one party.

The Bottom Line

The impact of redistricting efforts could extend down to county commissions, city councils and school boards that make myriad decisions affecting people's daily lives. It remains to be seen how many legislatures will follow Georgia's lead and whether the outburst of mid-decade redistricting will reach local levels.

The Supreme Court has sent legislative redistricting cases filed on behalf of Black voters in Mississippi and Native Americans in North Dakota back to lower courts for further consideration in light of its Louisiana decision. The Washington attorney general has asked the Supreme Court to do the same for legislative redistricting cases involving Hispanic voters in that state.

While many local offices are officially nonpartisan, analysts expect the Supreme Court's decision to ripple through states as Republicans attempt to reshape districts with large minority populations. What happens in Georgia's special session could set a template for other states considering similar moves.