# Black House members face record losses despite midterm wins

> A Supreme Court ruling weakened voting protections, but Democratic victories in 2026 temporarily offset the decline in Black congressional representation.
- Title: Black House members face record losses despite midterm wins
- Summary: A Supreme Court ruling weakened voting protections, but Democratic victories in 2026 temporarily offset the decline in Black congressional representation.
- Keywords: black representation, voting rights act, redistricting, 2026 midterms, supreme court, louisiana v. callais, shomari figures, don davis, black voters matter, brennan center for justice, NPR
- Source: NPR — https://npr.org/2026/11/12/nx-s1-6029640/black-voter-turnout-congress-redistricting
- Published: 2026-11-12T00:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: black representation, voting rights act, redistricting, 2026 midterms, supreme court, louisiana v. callais, shomari figures, don davis, black voters matter, brennan center for justice, news
## Supreme Court weakens voting protections
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling this year further weakened the Voting Rights Act, raising the possibility of a record drop in Black representation in Congress.
## Democratic wave forestalls the decline
A Democratic blue wave in the midterm elections helped forestall such a decline for now, with high Black voter turnout especially in the South fueling Democratic wins.
## Black House members still set to decline
The incoming Congress is set to include sixty Black House members, including nonvoting members, down from sixty-three in the current House.
## Shomari Figures defies the odds in Alabama
Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat, won reelection despite Alabama's Republican state leaders making his district far more GOP-leaning after the court's decision.
## The Callais ruling and Alabama's redistricting
The Supreme Court's conservative majority allowed Alabama's Republican-controlled legislature to redraw Figures' district weeks after the landmark Louisiana v. Callais decision, which weakened the Voting Rights Act's protections against racial discrimination in political mapmaking.
## District redrawn to eliminate Black voters
The new lines of Alabama's second district were found to be tainted by intentional race-based discrimination and would afford Black-preferred candidates zero chance of winning there.

> "afford Black-preferred candidates zero chance of winning there."
## A Black wave, not just a blue wave
Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, says the Black electorate was motivated by attacks on voting rights and gerrymandering.

> "For us, particularly here in the South, we're calling it a Black wave because what we saw was the Black electorate's been motivated by the attacks on our voting rights, by the gerrymandering that was taking place."
## Democratic gains across multiple states
Rep.Don Davis of North Carolina defended his seat despite redistricting.Two incoming Black House Democrats, Cyril Jefferson and LaKesha Womack, flipped districts long represented by white Republicans.
## Georgia's redistricting threat reduced
By breaking the GOP trifecta in Georgia, the blue wave lowered the redistricting threat facing the state's congressional districts represented by Black Democrats.Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms will be the country's first Black woman elected governor.
## Experts warn gains may not be sustainable
Cliff Albright warns that it is not sustainable for Black voters to be carved up and have voting power diluted without impact over a sustained period.

> "It's simply not sustainable for Black voters to be carved up and have our voting power that diluted and for it to not have an impact over a more sustained period of time."
## Redistricting expert urges caution
Kareem Crayton, redistricting expert and vice president of the Brennan Center for Justice, compares current optimism to 2009 after Barack Obama's election, when Democratic gains were wiped out by twenty ten.

> "It could be that this is a start of a generational shift, but it might not be."
## Greatest threat lies ahead after 2028
Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, says the greatest reaction to the Callais ruling will not be in twenty twenty-six but in twenty twenty-eight, twenty thirty and onward.
## Black Senate representation reaches historic high
The blue wave lifted Black Senate representation to a historic high of seven in the new Congress.Illinois Lt.Gov.
## Key takeaway

Black representation in the U.S. House will fall to sixty members next year from sixty-three, but Democratic midterm wins prevented a steeper decline after a Supreme Court decision weakened voting rights protections.