(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Democrats’ disingenuous attempt to smear the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision as the latest “Jim Crow 2.0” fell apart when supporters of color-blind redistricting pointed out examples of gerrymandered voters favoring white Democrats over black Republicans.
The loathsome attacks notably included cartoons and graphics of Justice Clarence Thomas — a black man who endured segregation during his upbringing in Savannah, Ga. — as a member of the SPLC-supported Ku Klux Klan.
The United States Supreme Court, in the eyes of America and the world. pic.twitter.com/xerjBPgDz4
— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) May 1, 2026
But conservatives such as long-suffering CNN panelist Scott Jennings demolished the leftist talking points by pointing out the recent selection of a white Democrat, Abigail Spanberger, over Republican candidate Winsome Earl‒Sears, a black immigrant, in last year’s Virginia gubernatorial election.
DEM: "We haven’t had an African American Republican governor since reconstruction!"
ME: “The Republicans tried to elect one in Virginia.”
DEM: “Okay…” 😳
ME: "Then you got a white Democrat who gerrymandered the state! It’s all crumbling, John!" pic.twitter.com/B2gJHrg3W0
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) April 30, 2026
That example was one of many the high court may have considered in making the landmark ruling, which struck down the archaic civil-rights-era practice of forcing red states to create majority‒minority districts that were based entirely on the presence of black voters.
Democrats in recent years had come to rely on those safe-blue seats to secure undue political advantages by running race-baiting candidates like Reps. Hank Johnson of Georgia, James Clyburn of South Carolina and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi.
Yet, in another egregious example of how the districts were doing more to harm than help black representation, many noted that Rep. Steve Cohen, a white Democrat representing Tennessee’s gerrymandered 9th congressional district, had defeated Charlotte Bergmann — a black, female Republican — in the past five Memphis-area elections.
This is the Republican candidate the white, male Democrat beat there in 2024 … you knew that, yes? https://t.co/TdsuuU5hxE pic.twitter.com/A9TH2dNFNT
— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) May 2, 2026
Bergmann, who has been the Republican candidate running against Cohen in every House race since 2018, is once again running in the Republican primary for the 2026 election.
Several critics slammed Emmanuel Felton, a recently-fired race reporter at the Washington Post, for an obtuse remark on X that specifically mentioned Memphis to complain about Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s recent calls to redistrict, while ignoring the lopsided outcome of the last election.
“Memphis is the second Blackest big city in the country, and it’s about to be gerrymandered within an inch of its life so a white Republican can represent it in Congress,” Felton claimed. “This was exactly the thing Congress was trying to address with the Voting Rights Act.”
Emmanuel, I know the Washington Post is out of touch with the south, so as a Tennessean let me educate you. District 9 is rep’d by a White Democrat man. A Black Republican woman has run against him 5x. Your race card has been denied. Take it back to DC where it belongs. We will… https://t.co/4C1S5opuFU
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 2, 2026
Dems: “No, you can’t end the racial gerrymander of Memphis. That’ll lead to less black representatives, you racist.”
Me: “But the current Dem rep there is a white dude and the GOP candidate is black.”
Dems: pic.twitter.com/xMhGiZhAFg
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) May 2, 2026
Imagine Memphis being represented by a white dude. https://t.co/96tnOVozCJ
— Tim Carney (@TPCarney) May 3, 2026
The rush to redistrict mid-decade heated up last month after Virginia Democrats, led by Spanberger, passed a ballot referendum to suspend the state constitution in order to secure an advantage for themselves in upcoming congressional races that would aid in the effort to impeach President Donald Trump for a third time.
However, with the new Virginia initiative enjoined by the state courts, the effort may backfire in the short term. It triggered an in-kind response from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who convened a special session of the state legislature to redraw the maps, adding an equal number of Republican seats to offset those Virginia sought to steal.
The SCOTUS decision, which followed shortly thereafter, has fueled similar calls from states including Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
But Democrats are bracing themselves for a contentious brawl while seeking to redraw already gerrymandered states like Illinois and California — and adding several others into the mix.
Red states didn’t wait. The second SCOTUS butchered the Voting Rights Act, they went all in.
Louisiana: Roughly one-third Black, and now they’re pushing maps that could leave the state with zero Black representation in Congress.
The solution: Blue states need to match the… pic.twitter.com/GWOSBcAxQ5
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) May 3, 2026
It is unclear who will prevail, if anyone, and whether the hyper-partisan gerrymandering will ultimately help or harm the push for fair representation.
While it will likely lead to several states having delegations that are aligned exclusively with the party in power, it could also help to make races within those districts more competitive since they will, by necessity, be less concentrated.
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
