Redistricting not only happens in legislatures and ballot measures
Democrats’ narrow victory in Tuesday’s redistricting referendum in Virginia was the latest battle in the two major parties’ gerrymandering war. Democrats, for once, did not roll over when Republicans launched the war in Texas at Donald Trump’s command. They fought back:
“We cannot bring a stick to a knife fight,” said Kelly Hall, the executive director of the Fairness Project, which spent more than $12 million backing the redistricting referendum.
With Republicans “assaulting the integrity of representation in the U.S. Congress, we need to be able to respond with every tool that we have,” she said.
The new map could turn the state’s 5D-5R congressional delegation (with one seat open) into a 10D-1R affair.
But the redistricting war of control of Congress is not only fought in legislatures, ballot measures, and congressional races. They also happen in lower-profile spots on your ballot.
Judicial elections are on the ballot this fall. And they matter. A lot. Bolts offers a state-by-state guide:
Nineteen states are holding regular elections for their supreme courts this year, meaning races where candidates can challenge incumbent judges or run for an open seat. How those work is straightforward; think of what you’re used to seeing for Congress or governor.
But 13 states are holding retention elections, which are simple up-or-down votes, with no challengers, where voters decide if a judge who is already on the court should stay in office. (Explore these rules in our state-by-state guide to each state’s high court.)
Plus, some states allow candidates to affiliate with a party. Others hold nonpartisan elections, though in many such states parties and advocacy organizations still get involved.
This year, liberals or Democrats are aiming to retain their large advantage in Michigan and gain a foothold in Georgia and Texas. A wave of retirements could affect the Washington court’s recent history as one of the more left-leaning in the country, though conservatives are unlikely to gain major ground.
Lest anyone forget, NC Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs and the state’s Democratic Party had to fight in court for six months and two days to secure her 734-vote win in 2024. Republicans play to win even when they lose. January 6 ring a bell? How about this?
Democrats losing control of the state Supreme Court majority in the 2022 midterms meant the new Republican court revisited a recently settled gerrymandering case that gave North Carolina a 7R-7D congressional delegation.
Democracy Docket noted at the time that “the court’s unprecedented decision to rehear this case was not due to any changes in the underlying facts of the lawsuit; instead, it ensued after North Carolina Republican legislators asked for the case to be reheard following the state Supreme Court’s shift from a Democratic to a Republican majority after the 2022 midterm elections.” The new 5R-2D court overturned the old court. The resulting congressional split is now 10R-4D in a state Trump won by 3.2 points in 2024.
Conservatives or Republicans, meanwhile, have an opportunity to erase the liberal lean of Montana’s supreme court, and extend their dominance in North Carolina and Ohio.
In the red states of Kansas, Missouri, and Wyoming, justices who have sided with more liberal outcomes in major recent cases are all up for retention. Conservatives managed to oust a Democratic-appointed justice in Oklahoma two years ago for the first time in the state’s history, though it appears unlikely that the state will see similar agitation this year.
Progressive efforts to oust justices who upheld abortion bans faltered in Arizona and Florida two years ago; this year, more justices who held that position are up for retention in those states. And in Minnesota, a trio of justices with experience as public defenders—a very unusual concentration by national standards—is up for reelection, though the field is not yet set.
These races are not sexy or high-profile. In the past, it’s been unseemly for judges to spend a lot of time raising campaign funds. All bets are off now that Trump sees his power ebbing away and is clutching at any lever for hanging on and staying out of jail. Democrats have to take seriously these state court races. We train our poll greeeters to advise voters to vote all the way down the ballot, of course. But we ask that they pay particularly close attention to the state judicial races. They matter. We’ve lived with the consequences.
Go and do likewise where you live.
North Carolina Democrats hope to secure reelection for Justice Anita Earls this fall and then flip enough Republican seats in 2028 and 2030 to regain the majority on our Supreme Court in time to defend fair redistricting after the 2030 census. (Three Republicans are up for reelection in 2028 and two in 2030.)
You can help out Anita here.