For Immediate Release
April 29, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT
Zo Tobi, Director of Communications
press@movement.vote
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a massive blow to the already-weakened Voting Rights Act. The Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais will give a boost to Republican-controlled states, especially in the South, in their ongoing efforts to dilute the power of Black voters and gerrymander their way into controlling Congress and state legislatures.
This ruling will open the door for more states to jump into the mid-decade redistricting battle Trump started last year to retain and expand GOP control of Congress. Florida just approved new maps today, which could give Republicans up to four seats in the U.S. House. Last week, MVP partners helped pass a redistricting ballot measure in Virginia that could gain Democrats up to four seats in the U.S. House, which the GOP immediately challenged in court.
“This ruling is a slap in the face for voters of color and a permission slip for Republicans to rig maps in their favor — and we’re going to do everything in our power to fight back,” said MVP Founder and Executive Director Billy Wimsatt. “Republicans are touting this as a win for racial equality, which is laughable when you have the Heritage Foundation and this White House applauding it. This ruling is an insult to decades of work by our country’s civil rights leaders. It’s just one more in a long line of attacks on our rights under an authoritarian Trump presidency intent on controlling who has a say in our democracy and who doesn’t. MVP is moving fast to send funds to our partner organizations in the South who are ready to fight back.”
MVP is moving fast to send funds to our partner organizations in the South who are ready to fight back.
States most impacted by this ruling — especially in the South — are not new to fighting racist voter suppression tactics, including a slew of restrictive laws passed after unprecedented Black voter turnout in 2020. MVP partners have been leading the way, organizing in support of voting rights and building political power — especially Black political power — to win elections up and down the ballot in recent years in states like Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.
“I’ve lived and worked in the South my whole life, and we are all too familiar with this kind of GOP-led backlash aimed at restricting Black political power,” said MVP Southern Regional Field Director Jillian Johnson. “Just as we are poised to break GOP supermajorities in several Southern states, this ruling comes down. That’s not a coincidence. But let me be clear: Southern organizers are ready. They have been in this fight for a long time. They have the numbers, they have the skills, and they have the strategy to fight back, organize for our future, and win in November and beyond.”
MVP will immediately move funding to partners in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi who have been preparing for this moment for months. These groups are best positioned to organize their communities, fight for the rights of voters in the South, and mitigate the harm this ruling may cause, especially before the November midterm elections.
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Movement Voter PAC funds local organizing and movement-building groups working to shift culture, win power, and shape policy. MVP operates like a “mutual fund” for political giving: raising money from donors and channeling it toward the most impactful organizations and power-building work around the country. Learn more: https://movement.vote
