Hello, and welcome back to The Franchise!

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that struck down Louisiana’s second Black-majority congressional district in Louisiana v. Callais, red states across the South jumped at the new opportunity to gerrymander away the majority-minority districts in their states, in a blatant scramble to severely cut back Black electoral power. This week the Republican race to redistrict ahead of the midterms continues at a dizzying pace, with some states that initially appeared hesitant now jumping into the fray. 

Here’s the latest.

In Alabama, the Supreme Court vacated a lower court’s decision this week that had, up until this point, blocked the state from using a 2023 map that had only one majority-Black district. The state’s current map has two majority-Black districts, which became a requirement when the lower court blocked the GOP-drawn 2023 map.

The state can use the 2023 map for now, though there is ongoing litigation and it might be blocked again. Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey is pushing ahead under the assumption that Alabama will be allowed to use it and called a special election for August 11, which will serve as a primary for the districts it redraws.

Primaries are already scheduled for May 19, but Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said that the regular May primaries will still take place, but votes in the four congressional districts impacted by the 2023 maps will be tossed and replaced with the votes from the additional special primary in August. 

Meanwhile in South Carolina … Earlier this week, the state Senate rejected a new gerrymandered map proposal with five Republicans voting with state Dems to defy Trump’s calls for them to redistrict ahead of the midterms. The defiance was, for a moment, a brief brightspot in the distressing news cycle. South Carolina’s Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey defended his vote against redistricting by saying that many in power have “lost their way.” 

But, as of Wednesday, redistricting is back on the table after reports surfaced that the state’s GOP Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to call a special session on redistricting, leaving open the possibility for the state to approve a map that specifically targets Rep. Jim Clyburn’s (D-SC) district.

Louisiana is also on track to approve a new gerrymandered map. The Louisiana Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee moved forward a proposal that would give Republicans a 5-1 advantage in the state. The proposal now heads to the state Senate floor for approval.

Mississippi GOP Gov. Tate Reeves said this week that he is canceling a special session on judicial redistricting on May 20, but emphasized that the state would redraw congressional districts prior to the 2027 election.  

And, finally, in Georgia, GOP Gov. Brian Kemp announced a special session on redistricting for June 17, which will allow him to sign off on new gerrymandered maps for 2028 before he leaves office. Kemp always wanted to redraw maps for 2028, but he initially said the state would not redistrict ahead of the 2026 midterms. However, it appears someone may have convinced him of the riskiness of waiting with a gubernatorial race with no incumbent ahead of the state this fall. 

There’s a lot more to unpack in the attacks-on-the-franchise realm this week. Let’s dig in. 

Trump Admin Expands its 2020 Redux Probe to Wisconsin

The Trump administration is expanding its baseless investigation into elections past, this time to Wisconsin. Although no ballots have been seized yet, sources have confirmed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the FBI has begun questioning Wisconsin Elections Commission deputy administrator Robert Kehoe about the 2020 election. Kehoe had to debunk election conspiracies during his questioning, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

As it stands now, the investigation is reportedly only in a preliminary phase, with FBI agents vetting earlier complaints about the 2020 election. 

For what it’s worth, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Elections Commission also told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the commission was “not aware of an active investigation.”

In some ominous foreshadowing, in March, Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said that he would resist efforts from the FBI to investigate Wisconsin’s 2020 election. 

“We want to keep our elections safe and secure, and caving to the Trump administration’s demand will do the exact opposite. That’s something we’re going to fight all the way,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel earlier this spring. 

As you’ll recall, Wisconsin was another hotbed for MAGA election conspiracies in 2020. Joe Biden won Wisconsin in 2020, but Trump repeatedly and baselessly claimed that the battleground state had massive illegal “ballot dumps” in favor of Biden. 

This development in Wisconsin comes on the heels of the DOJ’s larger campaign to investigate past elections in places like Fulton County, Georgia, Maricopa County, Arizona, and Wayne County, Michigan — all areas that Trump and his allies targeted with election disinfo in 2020. The FBI has, in recent months, seized voter data and voting records in these places as conspiracy theorists in the administration that Trump has tasked with investigating his delusion about the 2020 election help sow seeds of distrust in the country’s election system. 

Benson Tries to Get Out Ahead of Even More Election-Related Conspiracy Theories

Michigan’s Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson — who is running for governor this November and has been a frequent target of the Trump administration’s due to her efforts to ward of election denialism in Michigan — is getting out ahead of even more election conspiracies by setting up a “firewalls” for the 2026 election to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest in her gubernatorial bid. 

The MAGA universe is already spreading lies about Benson and her supposed involvement in a scheme to steal the election. 

In a letter last week to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers, which is responsible for certifying the state’s election results, Benson wrote that she will “recuse herself from all decisions and administrative tasks that may have a direct impact on the 2026 race for Michigan governor.”

Benson also noted in her letter that she is certainly not the first secretary of state to also be running for governor, but that hasn’t stopped the MAGA hordes from pouncing. 

“Michigan secretaries of state have a long history of simultaneously running for office while successfully administering Michigan’s elections in partnership with the Board of State Canvassers,” she wrote. 

Many Voters Still Believe the 2020 Election Was Stolen 

According to new polling from Politico, a chunk of voters, 24 percent of those polled, still think the 2020 election was stolen. More than a third of all respondents believe the 2026 election will be “stolen” too, and one in four of those polled indicated that they do not expect the upcoming elections to be fair.

And as Politico points out, the definition of what “stolen” means to individual voters was not entirely clear. Republicans, or 52 percent of Trump voters, are concerned with ineligible voters casting ballots, while Democrats are concerned with voter suppression. This is unsurprising given the administration’s continued efforts to drum up fear about the nation’s election system and perpetuate the false narrative that non-citizens are voting en masse in our elections.

Around 55 percent of Harris voters thought that getting rid of mail-in voting could cause a rigged election, 41 percent of Trump voters responded that getting rid of mail-in voting would largely be fair, and 42 percent of Trump voters responded that it could lead to a stolen election. 

Respondents were also asked about whether or not it would be fair for ICE agents to be present at polling places — something the Trump administration has not definitively ruled out as being a possibility, even though it is illegal for armed federal agents to interfere with elections at polling places — and 47 percent of Trump voters responded that ICE agents at polling places would be “normally fair” or “always fair.”

In Other Election News

Washington Post: Republicans who denied 2020 election results could be governors next year

NBC News: Nebraska secretary of state loses GOP primary to challenger questioning election security
AJC: Gov. Kemp signs law making many metro Atlanta races nonpartisan