Stacey Abrams Criticizes Republican Redistricting Efforts
Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has strongly condemned Republican-led states’ initiatives to redraw congressional districts in a manner that benefits their party, describing these actions as “evil incarnate.”
In an interview with Stateside with Kai and Carter, Abrams stated that these efforts represent deliberate “cheating” aimed at suppressing the voting power of racial minorities, and emphasized the need to challenge such tactics both legally and electorally.
“We’ve got to point out that they are not just rigging the game,” she said. “They are not just cheating. They’re kneecapping the players. They are taking out the opposition. That’s not fair. That is not right. That is not American.”
Beyond Party Lines: The Stakes of Gerrymandering
Abrams highlighted that the issue of gerrymandering transcends traditional party competition. She warned that the manipulation of district boundaries is not merely to ensure Republican victories over Democrats, but to enable authoritarian forces to dismantle democratic systems and avoid genuine electoral competition.
“This is not just cheating so Republicans can beat Democrats – this is cheating so that authoritarians can dismantle our systems so they don’t have to compete ever again.”
Following the US Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, several Republican-led states have moved to redraw maps that actively eliminate majority-minority districts, thereby favoring the GOP in upcoming elections.
“Let’s be clear,” said Abrams. “This is evil. When evil is about what you strip from another in pursuit of power, this is evil. This is evil incarnate.”
The Impact on Civil Rights and Voting Protections
Abrams emphasized the generational impact of these changes, noting that her nieces and nephews represent the first generation since Reconstruction to experience a loss of civil rights during their lifetime. She acknowledged that while the Voting Rights Act was imperfect, it served as a critical tool to counteract voter suppression, but now its effectiveness has been significantly diminished.
“The Voting Rights Act, while imperfect, had still provided ‘a cheat code to overwhelm voter suppression,’” she said.
She urged voting rights advocates to persist in challenging these redistricting efforts in court, even in the face of potential losses.
“This is no longer a battle of Democrats v Republicans,” she said. “We’re in a competitive authoritarian state,” she said, claiming that democratic institutions have “become the weapons of authoritarianism because you hollow out what they mean, you compromise their accountability, you erase their legitimacy by using the very laws that people have come to accept as the tools for governance.”
Case Study: Tennessee’s Redistricting
In Tennessee, one of the first states to effectively lose Section Two protections of the Voting Rights Act, the last remaining majority-Black congressional district has been dismantled. Tennessee’s 9th congressional district, which includes Memphis, has been divided into three parts, each containing roughly one-third of the city’s Black voters. The new district maps render all nine of Tennessee’s congressional districts Republican-leaning.
“Winning in Tennessee was never going to be about stopping the maps,” Abrams said, emphasizing the importance of voter response.
“One response is to continue the fight using the courts, even if they don’t rule in favor,” she said. “Long before we got Brown v Board of Education, we had Plessy v Ferguson, we had Dred Scott. Fighting in the courts is how we build the record, but it’s also how we build the muscle memory – for why we fight and how we sharpen and refine our arguments.”
The other response is to focus on voter registration and turnout in these fractured districts. Abrams noted that although the GOP is likely to win in these areas, the division has created new opportunities.
“Our job is to grow. Our job is to use the scattering and say, okay, fine. You took the one we had. Well, now you’ve given us three opportunities to come back,” she said.
Demographic Trends and Urgency
Abrams stressed that demographic trends favor the opposition and underscored the urgency of the fight.
“The numbers are on our side,” Abrams argued. “We’ve got to remember the reason for the urgency, the reason for the speed – the reason it took less than a week for Tennessee to take advantage of the Callais decision is that they can look at demographic numbers across this country. And in 2046, this is a country that becomes majority-minority. They can count, and so should we.”
International Inspiration and the Path Forward
She cited Hungary’s recent election as an example of successful opposition to authoritarianism, where high voter turnout led to the historic election of Péter Magyar and the removal of long-time authoritarian leader and Trump ally Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power.
“Hungary pulled it off,” Abrams said. “But we don’t have 16 years to wait.”
