With the Supreme Court shattering the district lines that created majority-Black seats in the American South and legislators scrambling to stay in office, the Congressional Black Caucus is wrestling over its identity.
The Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act in its Louisiana v. Callais decision leaves the Black Caucus, the most powerful House Democratic bloc, preparing to lose as many as one-third of its 60 members to southern-state redistricting. Up to a half-dozen Black Democrats are expecting to get pushed out this year, with more facing Republican redistricting ahead of 2028.
For a group that’s relied on its strength in numbers, the high court ruling is an existential crisis. And the Black Caucus’ continued openness to endorsements and spending on behalf of non-Black candidates is intensifying what was already a scramble for a shrinking map.
It’s also spiking anxiety and stoking tension among Black Democrats, as some question whether Callais will inevitably shrink the Democratic Party’s tent — or shift the group’s balance towards lawmakers who are not representing majority-Black districts.
“We may get to a point in this country where you have only Black representatives who represent white areas. And that then impacts the ability of Black representatives to speak to the concerns of Black people at large,” said Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga.
The Black Caucus has always left itself the option to get involved in races even where a Black candidate isn’t on the ballot. But its reluctance to automatically endorse every Black candidate is already facing painful scrutiny in South Florida, where a white Democrat, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is competing for a historically Black part of Broward County.
Wasserman Schultz infuriated Black Democrats in Broward by announcing that she’d seek the seat formerly held by Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. The ex-congresswoman, who resigned amid corruption charges, is running again this year — along with five other Black Democrats.
The crowded field of Black candidates vying for the seat, and the clamors from local Democrats for backup from their national allies, puts a potential endorsement in play, though it’s not clear that the Black Caucus will pick a side.
“It’s unnecessary division in a time where we’re fighting against Jim Crow Republicans for literally carving up our seats and stealing representation, from both the party and from Black voices across the South. She’s literally helping them,” Elijah Manley, a leading Black candidate for the redrawn district, told Semafor.
Complicating things further, Wasserman Schultz is viewed as a potential future House Appropriations chair; that gives all Democrats incentive to stay on her good side.
The Black Caucus political arm declined to comment on the South Florida race.
