Voting opens for the 2026 midterms in just a few months. But in the wake of a new Supreme Court ruling, some GOP-controlled states are rushing to redraw their districts to maximize their partisan advantage ahead of the vote. In some cases, they’re even canceling elections where voting was already underway.
Extreme partisan gerrymandering isn’t new, but it’s been taken to new heights this year as President Trump urges GOP-controlled legislatures to undertake extraordinary mid-decade redistricting to stave off GOP losses amid his historically unpopular presidency.
And now the Supreme Court has ruled that Southern states governed by the Voting Rights Act can eliminate majority-Black districts as long as it’s done under the pretense of partisan, rather than racial, gerrymandering. But the effect is likely to be the same. “It took 60 years for Black Americans to get representation in Congress proportionate to their numbers,” Dedrick Asante-Muhammad explains this week. “Now we’re likely to backslide.”
Also this week, Scott Doer shares a story from Wisconsin about a fight to prevent the privatization of a local public nursing home — and what it says about the growing national push of private equity firms to take over nursing care. And Paul Armentano explains what the federal rescheduling of medical cannabis does — and doesn’t do — for the millions of Americans who use cannabis legally and responsibly.
New This Week…
The Supreme Court’s War on the Voting Rights Act Sends America Backwards | Dedrick Asante-Muhammad
It took 60 years for Black Americans to get representation in Congress proportionate to their numbers. Now we’re likely to backslide.
Private Equity Is Taking Over Nursing Homes — And Seniors Are Paying the Price | Scott Doerr
When corporations take over public health care, quality decreases, and patients suffer. Medicaid cuts could lead to the same result.
Reclassifying Medical Marijuana Was Long Overdue, But It’s Not Enough | Paul Armentano
States should be able to regulate cannabis like alcohol.
In Case You Missed It…
The Dark Side of the Data Center Boom | Melissa Garriga
The data centers popping up across the South and Midwest don’t just pollute and raise utility bills — they keep Americans hooked on wars for oil.
Progressive Economic Populism is a Winning Issue | Sonali Kolhatkar
When voters support universal health care, taxing corporations, and addressing climate change, it’s the “centrists” who are out of touch.
The Attack on Mail-in Voting Is an Attack on Working Americans | Sarah Anderson
Trump’s executive order to restrict voting by mail would raise the economic barriers to exercising a basic democratic right.
A Local Rebellion Against Trump’s Border Wall | Jim Hightower
A diverse, nonpartisan rebellion in Texas’s Big Bend region has stalled the administration’s plans for “The Wall.”
