Midterm turnout keeps Black House seats from hitting record low

Black representation in the U.S. House of Representatives will decrease next year, but not by the record margin that voting rights experts feared. An analysis by NPR indicates the incoming Congress will include 60 Black House members, including nonvoting delegates. That is a drop of three seats from the current House, which has 63 Black members. This number remains just one seat above the record low of five Black representatives that followed the 1876 election.

The potential for a steeper decline followed a Supreme Court decision in 2026. The court issued a ruling in the case Louisiana v. Callais that weakened protections in the Voting Rights Act regarding racial discrimination in mapmaking. That decision allowed state legislatures to redraw congressional districts without strict federal oversight of racial considerations. Alabama’s Republican-led legislature used this authority to redraw the state’s 2nd Congressional District.

The new district lines in Alabama made it difficult for Black candidates to win. A lower federal court had previously called the new map tainted by intentional race-based discrimination. The court found that the changes would give Black-preferred candidates zero chance of winning. Rep. Shomari Figures, the district’s Black Democrat, appeared likely to lose his seat under these conditions. He had won the seat in 2024 as the first Black representative of that district.

Figures won reelection in the 2026 midterm elections. His victory was part of a wider pattern of high turnout among Black voters, particularly in the South. Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, described the outcome as a Black wave. He said the electorate was motivated by attacks on voting rights and gerrymandering. Figures’ win, along with victories in other states, offset the losses in districts where maps were redrawn against Black voters.

In North Carolina, Rep. Don Davis retained his seat despite redistricting efforts by the state’s GOP-controlled legislature. Two new Black Democrats, Cyril Jefferson and LaKesha Womack, won districts previously held by white Republicans. In Georgia, Democratic gains in statewide offices reduced the immediate redistricting threat to Black congressional districts. Gov. Brian Kemp announced he will not call a special redistricting session before leaving office in January. His successor, Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms, will be the first Black woman elected governor in the country.

Experts warn that the current success may be temporary. Kareem Crayton of the Brennan Center for Justice noted that similar optimism followed the 2008 election, but many changes reversed by 2010. He advised a cautious approach to crafting rules to protect rights under difficult conditions. Dedrick Asante-Muhammad of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies said the full impact of the Callais ruling is expected to be seen in 2028 and 2030. Janai Nelson of the Legal Defense Fund added that state legislatures and local boards may face devastating impacts on Black electability as they redraw maps.

Black representation in the U.S. Senate is increasing. The new Congress will include seven Black senators, a historic high. This group includes Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Scott Colom from Mississippi. Colom is set to become the first Black senator from Mississippi since the Reconstruction era.